


Stuck Together

by ainamclane



Series: Little Black Dress RT Challenge [10]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, F/M, M/M, Sentinel/Guide Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 18:16:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5550476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ainamclane/pseuds/ainamclane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Tommy was with Oliver on the Gambit? And what if they return to the city a bonded Sentinel-Guide-Pair?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck Together

**Author's Note:**

> Constantine has a small guest appearance as does Sara.

Ever since they were teenagers and had been stuck outside a meeting of their parents - and out of boredom - had started playing and talking, were they somehow clicking. Thea had been clinging to Moira’s arms in that phase so the two boys were left alone at first.

They from now on spent every waking second they could get away with together and that was literally a worrisome problem in their families’ opinion. Granted, they were soon treated like another son in the household but nonetheless Malcolm, Robert and Moira were all displeased slightly. Rebecca was fine with it but she passed away too soon to be much of an influence. So the remaining parents tried to keep them at a distance and failed.

Both teens didn’t know why until much later.

And what different reasons.

Growing up and messing around with the girls was fun and they encouraged one another but somehow something was always uneasy in Oliver’s stomach when he saw Tommy leave with someone else. It was strange but he felt best and secure when he was around the other young man.

That was the reason why Tommy was with him on the Gambit instead of Sara or Laurel. Or one of Tommy’s girlfriends of the week. No, both knew they were always best friends and no girl would be able to come between them.

 

~*~

Oliver didn’t know how long it had been but he and Tommy had shared body heat. Robert woke them both: “Share the water. You both have to live.”

Oliver’s father then shot first their skipper and explained about his failings and wrongness he had caused in Starling City. Barely finishing his quick explanation, he shot himself and Tommy was there to sooth his tears. They stayed on the life raft for what felt like days and probably was the case.

They dragged themselves onto shore.

“We can’t stay here Ollie,” Tommy said after a while and he looked like crap, Oliver himself probably didn’t look much better.

Oliver nodded and they started climbing up a few rocks, away from the shoreline with its salt water.

That was the moment when they were shot down. First Oliver, then Tommy and both stared at another before blacking out.

They woke again to a cave and met Yao Fei. He helped them survive and they talked a few words only, too focused on staying alive and starving until they actually had to kill a bird. Each one.

Once they were fed and semi-healed, Oliver knew right away that something was off. He could feel the sand grains under his feet in clear detail. He could feel the salt on his skin that was itching and hurting in some places. He could tell a storm was coming hours before the weather hit. He heard animals and smelled their blood to locate them.

“We need to find food,” Tommy said quickly: “Yao Fei left a few minutes ago but he cannot support us forever.”

Oliver nodded: “I hear some water over there,” he pointed to the rise of the cliff in a close distance: “We should start there, animals tend to need water.”

They set of to hunt down some sips of water for them both and work on something to catch some fish or make traps for rabbits.

Without knowing, Oliver had come online as a Sentinel.

And Tommy was his Guide.

But that didn’t help much surviving this island.

~*~

“Do you hear that?” Oliver asked and both started running up the hill to light an arrow each. Firing them quickly, both arrows hit their marks. The fire exploded. Minutes later Tommy and Oliver asked for a ride off the island in perfect Chinese.

~*~

“Once we’re back, what do we tell them?” Tommy asked. In all the years on the island, Tommy’s talking had changed. Oliver had fallen more and more quiet. Tommy’s expressions and talking had just slightly changed to chatter that wasn’t important. They barely talked about important things but then again they didn’t need to. They had to trust each other completely to survive that island, particularly after the torture had started.

“We were on a deserted island. Tommy, saying differently would make them look strange at us. Like we’re damaged.” Oliver said and Tommy knew he was right.

~*~

Arriving back in the city after the five years in hell, Tommy and Oliver were very much aware of being a Sentinel and Guide and a matching Pair at that. It was rare these days to find a Sentinel and a Guide in the western regions given that most people lived in ordered civilized structures.

Being brought back to the city were they had grown up in wasn’t easy on their new senses and the fact that the city was overpopulated after the quiet that was Lian Yu. Yes, they had been in Starling City for a job with Amanda Waller, they had been to Shanghai. And back to the Island.

It was buried in the past for now.

When they arrived at the hospital in Starling City, all demands of getting a room together were denied. They were separated for their treatment and assessment which was ridiculous because they knew each other inside out. Probably more literally than anyone would believe them.

Tommy thought of suing them. They had treated them roughly and without any care for their regard to the other survivor on a lonely island. C’mon, how stupid did you have to be to separate the one person you trusted fully and that had helped you survive five years with? And both, Tommy and Oliver had argued over and over again to please stay together.

Probably Malcolm and Moira’s doing. The transport from the island on the boat had been easy, the logistics of getting transferred to Beijing and a consulate and IDs pretty easy given that they spoke Chinese by now. Which everyone was surprised about but no one actually asked. Probably because most of the Chinese police and officials they met knew about Lian Yu and being a prison.

Now Oliver stared out the window, not believing his eyes. Starling City was loud, bright and too much. The plane had smelled of stale air and too many people crowded in an airtight space. People brushing against him when they were walking or sitting in the plane. Why they didn’t get a company jet was beyond them. Just the few steps at the airport had been torture on his senses of familiarity and he had been so glad Tommy was there to clutch at his arm. All their promising talks about what they would do had to be delayed immediately.

Only the knowledge of Malcolm Merlyn behaving similar to Moira was relaxing. And that was saying much since Tommy never had been close to Malcolm ever since the man had abandoned his child for two years to be abroad. Two years Tommy had fully migrated to be the second son and the second brother. Now, showing concern and happiness was slightly out of character but both Tommy and Oliver wouldn’t know what it felt like to think you had lost a child.

Briefly, before they were to go home, Oliver went over to Tommy’s room, sneaking in quietly: “Are you okay to head home alone?” Oliver asked his Guide carefully. They had been together constantly and that for a very good reason.

Tommy looked at him, skin cleaner than it had been in a while but only scrubbed so good by the hospital supplies. The scrubs looked good on his slim lips and the smile reached his eyes: “I’ll make sure we’ll be over for dinner.”

“Your father will be okay?” 

“Yeah, it’s not like he won’t understand if I tell him we had to rely on each other too much to break this quickly.” Tommy replied, pressing a quick kiss to Oliver’s lips before they were ushered outside.

Oliver was bombarded right away by flashing photos and microphones stuffed under his nose. Oliver was just glad they were focusing on him instead of Tommy who got away silently. Probably due to the Queens having lost Robert.

Making his way home in clean, soft, cloths was heaven. He had been allowed to shower and shave soon after arriving and his scar tissue looked good. The latest wound had healed weeks ago and the only problems he had was the small hole where they had drawn blood from.

Damn, that meant his senses were already instable. He seriously needed to work on being separated from Tommy for a few hours without trouble. He had managed on the island shortly after bonding but ever since things had quieted down on the island, they were inseparable.

Arriving at home and wrapping his arms around Thea was really coming home for him. Not the sterile hospital bed but this, here at home. His room was the same he had left before and Oliver sat down with Walter and Tommy and Malcolm. Thank god they had come over because not having someone who knew about the horrors they had survived was unbearable. He would have managed if he were alone but he wasn’t.

Walter and Moira were pretty clear on their relationship and Oliver was glad for his mom to have moved on, not like Malcolm who stared at his son calculating.

When Raisa stumbled, both Tommy and he reached for her to steady her and since Oliver had dropped a line to her earlier, Tommy now answered in perfect Russian to her. Malcolm and Moira stared at them but they weren’t forthcoming with anything. They stuck to their island having been deserted. 

The smells were overwhelming. Tommy’s mental shields were frayed and Oliver tried to support his Guide mentally as much as Tommy’s leg pressed against his was grounding him and his senses.

Barely touching their food and alcoholic drinks, they asked to be excused then and moved back to Oliver’s room. Tommy looked at him: “I can’t stay with my Dad…” 

“Tommy, we’re only just back….” Oliver tried to explain carefully. He knew it would take time and refusing his Guide was next to impossible.

“I can’t be alone, Ollie,” Tommy whispered.

Oliver stepped up to Tommy and hugged him tightly. They fit together perfectly and the first time in years actually relaxed completely: “It feels like I haven’t hugged you without a threat being close by.”

Tommy nodded: “I know. This would be the first night not half sleeping.”

They drew back from the hug a bit and stared at another. Their eyes spoke volumes but they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Tommy’s eyes focused on Oliver and the Sentinel mouthed Malcolm at the other. They called him to enter.

“Tommy?” Malcolm asked and briefly looked at Oliver but dismissed him immediately which Tommy frowned at. Barely noticeable if you hadn’t studied the other man - or people behavior to survive - closely. They had had to survive the torture they had been under. They had needed to see when the other lied with otherwise hurtful words. They had to trust each other completely even though they had acted as if they didn’t care what had happened to the other. 

When they had been captured the first time and the torture had started, it became necessary to deny any and all knowledge of each other beyond that they shipwrecked together. Then the torture had started and their bodies looked exactly the same. Their wounds and tattoos were near identical. All part of the psychological torture. And they were lucky that no one had caught on that they were Guide and Sentinel.

Malcolm continued when both men didn’t really react: “Let’s go home.”

“I can’t, Dad,” Tommy said and indicated Oliver: “I’m afraid I’ve attached myself to Oliver. I haven’t slept last night at the hospital either because they wouldn’t let us get together.”

Malcolm frowned: “What did that place do to you?”

Tommy shrugged and Oliver looked stern: “We relayed on each other to stay safe.”

Malcolm considered the answer before nodding: “Can we agree on you swapping places to stay at?”

Tommy grinned: “Like we’re kids again?” he then nodded after getting barely the slightest twitch from Oliver: “Of course. But it’s probably easier to move out eventually.”

Malcolm nodded: “Of course. Just, get better first, okay? If Moira, Walter and I are around, we might do you some good.”

“And Thea, don’t forget her. She’s a ray of sunshine,” Tommy said with a smile.

Oh and now Oliver heard Malcolm’s heart skip a beat. Barely noticeable but there if you knew what to look for. Like a nagging thought tended to do. Not a lie, not a confirmed sharp clench the heart could do but just a hint of a doubt of something. Intrigued, Oliver took a steadying breath and then he smelled it.

The genetic makeup of Tommy on Malcolm. The same hint Thea had among Moira’s genetic smell. The awareness hit Oliver hard and he nearly stumbled but he had better control over his body now than ever.

Both men nodded. Malcolm left them alone and both men sat down on Oliver’s couch: “He didn’t change anything in my bedroom either.” They fell silent for a second.

Tommy shrugged: “Yeah, I guessed. Thea changed so much.”

Oliver suddenly indicated him to be quiet, all with a small tilt of his head and then indicated the door, also with barely any movement. Others would ever understand what went on between them. Thea opened the door: “Hey, are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks Speedy,” Oliver said and Thea smiled: 

“I’ve missed you both so much. Its like both my brothers went missing at once.” Oliver’s thoughts hit Tommy then: //We are both your brothers. Malcolm is her father. I just found out.//

“And you’ve all grown up,” Tommy said without missing a beat but Oliver knew he was shocked and a small waver in his voice was there. It just had been too much practice and requirement not to give anything away. Tommy smiled at his sister: “We’ve missed you, too.”

Thea smiled at them, happy with the response for now but feeling she was intruding and then left again, leaving them alone. 

Oliver nodded when Thea was really gone and closed the door, looking at Tommy: “I smelled the genetic markup. She’s definitely both our sister.”

“So that is a conversation that will go over well,” Tommy sighed: “You could have waited another second to mentally bombard me like that.”

After settling down, they fell asleep quickly, wrapped up together and on the floor, the window wide open.

~*~

Oliver startled awake when his mother’s hand touched his shoulder and he freaked. Flipping her over once, Tommy already trying to sooth him while Walter also tried for Oliver to calm down. Oliver scrambled backwards and crashed into Tommy who held on to him tightly while they were still getting rained at through the open window.

Moira and Walter looked at them, scared but Tommy ignored them and Oliver just looked sorry that he scared them.

Breakfast was awkward.

~*~

Together they went out into the city, knowing of a few places they want to go to and of course a few people they should visit. First was an old Queen Industries Building. They agreed on an old factory right where they would be the most. No one would think of them here. Tommy was inspecting the place while Oliver did a sense check on their surroundings. Surprisingly, they had no graffiti on the buildings or any sign of homeless seeking shelter in the closed factory. It would be ideal for their needs this way.

“You want to see Laurel and Sara?” Tommy asked after they had agreed on their location for their nightly workings.

Oliver nodded: “I know Laurel works at CNRI, Sara I couldn’t find anything on.”

“And that with your computer skills,” Tommy smirked: “All right, lets go visit them.”

While they had been stranded on an island, they had trained in different directions. Oliver had taken to hacking a bit more than taking people apart and assessing them. That was Tommy’s department after he had the mental Guide abilities under lock and control. It was easy to see Tommy’s strength in people reading while Oliver had the slight advantage of heightened senses and a better adrenaline response in fighting. Tommy’s anticipation in movements of his opponent made them even again.

Heading back out through the city on those familiar streets was soothing in a way and luckily, they hadn’t seen any reporters yet.

Laurel was really surprised to see them and smiled brightly: “I’m so glad to see you.”

They hugged and after a few seconds just looking at each other, Tommy and Oliver shifted. Laurel nodded: “I guess you were looking for my sister as well?”

Tommy nodded. Yes, they had all been good friends: “Yes.”

Laurel looked sad: “She died. We all went on a rescue mission for you and one of the boats went down.”

Oliver and Tommy both looked surprised and shocked: “What!?”

Laurel nodded: “It was an accident. They sent out a boat too early and the storm was still on. I was coordinating with your Mom and Dad so I missed the first boat. Three people died because someone wanted to go out immediately. We never found her body. My father never got over it because the man responsible also died. Now he started blaming you.”

Both stayed silent and shook their heads. After a few more moments of small talk, Tommy took Oliver’s hand in his and indicated he wanted to leave. 

Laurel frowned: “What?”

Oliver replied: “Tommy feels uncomfortable. We’re still not used to crowds.” Looking around the near empty sidewalk, he corrected: “Well, any open streets and people in general.”

Laurel nodded then indicated their hands: “What I think it is?”

Tommy shrugged: “Yes.”

Oliver tensed enough for Tommy to notice and squeeze his hand briefly before letting go. Laurel smiled brightly at them: “Good, I’m glad. At least something to live for.”

“You don’t think its just being two people alone on an island?” Oliver asked surprised.

Laurel shook her head: “I know you loved me, Ollie, but I know about Tommy here.”

Apparently there was something to know before the Island. Oliver wondered if they had been that obvious.

They left with a promise for a dinner or party night out.

Right outside, they were ambushed and damn, those arrows were too quick.

~*~

Oliver woke to being tied to a chair. Tommy was lying on the floor, wrists bound behind their backs. Oliver laughed on the inside because this was easy to get out of. Tommy would too, once he woke.

Still, being tasered hurt but not worse than being stabbed and burnt. He clenched his teeth and shook it off. Damn, those he hadn’t felt since their first year on the island.

Seconds later, Oliver cut loose and started fighting, Tommy woke not two takedowns later and joined in while one of their guys ran away.

“Get him!” Tommy yelled and indicated another guy he would take on. Oliver followed rather quickly.

They had the men down and killed seconds later. They hated doing it this way but they couldn’t let them live. Besides, their luck also ran out that someone had seen them being kidnapped in front of CNRI and thus there was no way this incident could be swept under the rug.

~*~

The debrief was rather funny since Detective Lance wouldn’t believe their story about the Hood-guy. Well, of course no one had seen this guy yet since Tommy and he were still working it all out.

Malcolm and Moira both didn’t really believe them either and both actually got assigned a bodyguard. Diggle was the tougher nut to crack and Tommy’s bodyguard Hunter was easy to ditch. Luckily they had agreed on the old Queen Factory before they had been assigned bodyguards who were really unnecessary but of course no one was allowed to know that.

After both had successfully snuck away and met at the factory they started building up their base while Tommy started gathering information for their first hit. Both were nearly identical in shape and height so they could play the tricks with their speed. It would be funny.

They came back to their cave and were high on adrenaline. They barely uncovered their faces before they were on each other, lips pressing together, hands reaching for skin after shredding away the cloths.

~*~

“How am I to protect you if you slip away at any chance you’ve got?” Dig asked and frowned at Oliver sitting on the couch at home.

Oliver replied with a smirk: “Sorry but I do need some time alone.”

“We could agree on someplace.” Dig said sternly.

Tommy walked in, followed by his bodyguard Hunter. Hunter stood to one side, Dig quickly moving away to let Oliver talk to Tommy.

Both men stepped up to another and before they could actually kiss each other remembered not being alone and so they awkwardly touched on their arms.

Oliver turned to face Dig with a glare until the man got the hint and moved out of the room, taking Hunter with him, but definitely catching what was between them. Tommy asked: “What was that about?”

“I told him I wanted alone time every now and then and he said we should agree on a place where it was safe,” Oliver replied: “I doubt he knows about us, though.”

“What exactly? Our relationship or the Hood-type?”

Oliver grinned at him, remembering Quentin Lance’s scowl when they got to know that the Hood-guy really was starting to be around: “Neither.”

Tommy pressed a quick kiss to Oliver’s lips, then moved back again because they really didn’t want to be discovered. It was one thing for Laurel to know, Malcolm suspect but no one else needed to know yet.

Hunter entered: “Mr Merlyn, if you want to make it to your appointment with your father, we should leave now.”

Tommy barely sighed: “You want to come with me, Ollie?”

“Would your Dad like that?”

“You know how much I like my Dad, Ollie. I haven’t been close to him since Mom died,” Tommy whispered.

Oliver nodded: “I’ll come with you.”

They moved and of course Diggle followed them, just like Hunter did. Thankfully Tommy had taken his Limo and a driver so that all four could fit into the back.

Tommy and Oliver stayed quiet but communicated with barely-there gestures. Hunter frowned: “Why do I get the impression you two are talking to another?”

Dig shook his head: “They are.”

Oliver and Tommy both looked surprised at them but continued. They could always communicate telepathically ever since they were bonded but it required a bit more mental capacity than was good right now. Hence the barely-there indicators. Luckily, both men sat on a door each so both moved and fell out of the driving car nearly in sync. By the time their bodyguards were out of the car, Ollie and Tommy were already sprinting off in full speed.

“You know they won’t catch us,” Tommy called out and they got a lot of speed.

Oliver indicated a building and took up a bit more speed so he was just in front of Tommy to climb his way up. Tommy followed him and they continued to make their way across the roofs: “When is your Dad expecting us?”

“In six hours. I thought we use the time to hood-up.”

“Hook-up?” Oliver asked after mishearing.

“Ha, our cover word. I meant taking on the Hood.” Tommy clarified. They made good time to the factory and settled down at their computers: “Another hit after dinner with your dad or before then?”

“Before. Its going to be dark in three hours and then have enough time to patch us up if something happens,” Tommy nodded: “I don’t expect troubles though.”

“Do you want to be the attacker this time?” Oliver asked and indicated the rooftop: “I’ll be your backup.”

“We promised to swap every time so it is my turn, yes.” Tommy agreed and both suited up: “You know, why did we agree on leather again?”

“Because its more resilient than other materials for climbing buildings,” Oliver reminded him: “Why?”

“It sucks to get on or off,” Tommy chuckled: “I know its better than those synthetic fabrics.”

They easily made their way to their next target, being quick and efficient about the bodyguards and threatening their target from the list.

That was until shots were fired.

“Sniper!” Oliver yelled, wincing where he had been hit and damn, the projectile hit their man, dead center. Another shot was fired and Tommy swapped places with Oliver, only to also get hit slightly. They shot arrows back before quickly making their escape with their arrows stuck to an adjacent building.

They kind of fell into their cave and both men winced: “Damn, where did that guy come from!?” Oliver seriously had no clue. He hadn’t registered anyone being a threat but then again he wasn’t used to covering hundred heartbeats and people at once to assess a situation. He definitely needed to work on those skills. A sniper could slow down his heartbeat quiet significantly to that he would register that if he knew how to single out every heartbeat.

Tommy cursed and got to his feet: “If I only knew. Where did you get hit?”

“Upper arm, you?”

“Biceps,” Tommy replied. Oliver helped him get dressed down and they stitched each other up. Tommy went first because he had been wincing more and bleeding more. His gash was slightly larger than Oliver’s. Another thing the island had taught them; Oliver was never to feel responsible for Tommy’s injuries. 

Tommy was sitting at their computers when Oliver walked up to him. The dark haired turned his chair and smiled at his best friend right when Oliver stumbled a bit: “Ollie!?”

“Feel weird,” Oliver replied and Tommy stood to help him but swayed as well: “Poison!” They moved together. Tommy grabbed water and the mortar while Oliver sprinted to their lockbox. Both swallowed the herbs and curled up together, recovering.

~*~

The beeping of the alarm rose them both abruptly and they winced when pulling their stitches: “Crap,” Tommy whispered and Oliver grimaced in reply.

They gathered their jackets quickly and moved towards the exit. Tommy moved a bit slower than Oliver but not by much: “Should we call Diggle and Hunter?”

“Once we’re a few blocks over. There is a café I like,” Oliver grinned: “Well, used to.”

The café was still there and they both purchased a coffee each and waited for their bodyguards to arrive. They bumped shoulders (Ollie’s good one) before climbing in and cheerfully handing over spare cups for their bodyguards.

“The next time you disappear, I will resign,” Dig said and looked at Hunter who nodded.

Oliver grinned: “Oh c’mon, we’ve been stranded on an island for five years, of course we need privacy more than anyone else.”

“Not if we get in trouble with your parents for not following you,” Hunter replied: “The need of privacy is understandable but not outside your own homes.”

Both Tommy and Oliver rolled their eyes and ignored them. Oliver still frowned at Hunter though, since the man had insisted six hours before it was time to leave, that they needed to leave. Something was up and he knew Tommy had caught on just as easily. Even Diggle had a small frown around the eyes when he looked at the other bodyguard.

~*~

Malcolm hugged both men in greeting and they sat down together for dinner. It was a quiet place with a private room and a lot of tainted windows.

“So, tomorrow we’ll meet in court to get you both resurrected legally. What are your plans for the future?” Malcolm asked and looked at Tommy: “Finish Uni?”

Tommy shook his head: “No, Dad, not yet. I’m back for barely a week and I just can’t, not yet.”

Malcolm nodded acceptingly: “Oliver, what about you?”

“The same,” Oliver replied: “Though I was thinking along the lines of opening a nightclub with Tommy eventually since we always had that plan before we-uh, shipwrecked.”

Tommy grinned quickly: “We searched a few locations which is where we had been headed before we were abducted. We haven’t settled on a place yet.”

Malcolm nodded: “Good to hear. Let me know if you need help with the financial plans.” 

“We will,” Tommy nodded.

“So, you both are really together then? Not just an island thing?” Malcolm asked quietly, aware they were in a restaurant.

Oliver shook his head: “When we were on that yacht…”

“We were about to figure it all out. We just followed our heart later on,” Tommy grinned and looked into Oliver’s eyes.

Malcolm nodded and calmly said: “Your mom and I were the same. You look the same way she did look at me with all her love.”

Surprised, Tommy looked at his father: “Really?”

Malcolm nodded: “Yes. And Oliver really reminds me of Robert. The eyes are the same.”

Tommy frowned: “Are you honestly okay with us?”

“Yes, I am. Geez, Tommy, you are my son, I love you. Moira and I are old friends and Oliver is like my second son. It also doesn’t mean grandkids are out of the question.”

The lie was so obvious, that Tommy didn’t even need to tell Oliver it was one. Playing their part as well, they brushed over the lie.

Tommy and Oliver both groaned. That was another topic as well as Moira and Malcolm being friends. Both men hadn’t missed the words and with the knowledge of Thea being both their sister, it was rather interesting. But not a topic to discuss two days in. It would look suspicious if they suddenly knew about Thea.

~*~

The next morning, after staying the night at Tommy’s, they gathered at the Queen’s place to head into the court together – and for Oliver to slip on a suit. Tommy and Oliver took turns in the stand. Both settled on not telling a word about having the Russian Mob, a strange guy in a crisp white shirt and tie, a submarine, whole missiles and crews of military, the Triad and ARGUS on their island with them. That simply stayed with them and only them.

They were barely out of the room when both Walter and Malcolm started talking about Oliver taking over the Queen Consolidated and Tommy taking Merlyn Global Group. Both men frowned, hadn’t they had that nice talk last night about their own plans?

“Hey, I’m sorry but could we please go home? I really don’t want to discuss this now,” Oliver said. Tommy nodded: “It was tougher than we thought talking about Robert’s death.”

Of course they had left out the suicide part.

They hesitated on the stairs, waiting for their bodyguards to follow Walter, Moira and Malcolm but sadly they weren’t tricked and stuck close to Tommy and Oliver who both ran into Laurel then and there.

She looked surprised and hurt to run into them but smiled brightly quickly: “Hey, your hearing was today? How did it go?”

“It was good,”

“Tougher that we thought,” Tommy corrected and looked at Oliver meaningful: “It brought back painful memories of losing Robert.”

Laurel nodded: “Yeah, I can imagine.”

They left then and headed outside, luckily being ignored due to their next name on the list showing up. 

~*~

The thing about having a bodyguard was rather annoying at times and when Oliver and Tommy finally felt comfortable enough to move a bit further away from one another, Tommy went to have dinner with his –and Thea’s father – while Oliver decided to take Diggle and visit Laurel at her apartment. 

Just his luck that Laurel was in a high profile case and the Triad was involved. Oliver hated this situation immensely but dragged Laurel after him to shield her with his body. In this case she was more important with bringing justice to the city than he was. And he was a Sentinel, a protector.

Throwing the butter knife was just a last resort and Oliver was actually relieved when Dig showed up to help him out. Damn, Tommy would probably be scared to death given the mental imbalance and adrenaline Oliver was putting off right now.

Quickly making sure Laurel was alright, Oliver turned to Diggle, thanking him with a nod before speed dialing Tommy: “I’m okay.”

“I was just about to ask you, actually,” Tommy replied and Oliver could hear the smile in his voice before Tommy’s mental imprint on his shields grew serious again: “Listen, my Dad… there is something going on we don’t know yet. He’s keeping things from me and he is worried about my agitation when we were calmly sitting there. He has no mental shields so it was easy to read him. He was seriously afraid that one of us, or both of us, had come online.”

“So they always knew we were -?” Oliver didn’t voice it given that Diggle and Laurel were close by and eying him.

“Yes. That is my guess. He also does know about Thea which is why we should tell her before this secret comes out another way and she hates us for having known,” Tommy added: “Listen, can you stop by later?”

“After Lance is done, yes,” Oliver nodded and hung up, turning to Diggle and Laurel. Laurel knew and smiled encouraging at him though the shock sat deep in her bones.

Lance came storming in, looking around and hugging his daughter, frowning at Oliver and thanking Diggle quickly: “Were they after my daughter?”

“Yes,” Oliver replied: “They didn’t follow me when I left the room to grab a knife.”

“What knife?” Lance asked irritated and Oliver shrugged but didn’t reply. Laurel cut in: “The knife stuck in the woman’s hand.”

Lance frowned: “The woman?”

“She was Chinese. The Triad does have connections.” Laurel added.

Lance eyed his daughter but she glanced at Oliver who nodded and Lance tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose: “Okay, Laurel, I want you to stay with me for the night.”

“Excuse me,” Oliver interrupted: “How about Merlyn’s place?”

Quentin eyed him more than comically: “Why would that be a good place?”

“Because I’ll be heading there with Diggle later tonight, Hunter, Tommy’s bodyguard will be there as well as barely any social connection between Laurel and Tommy due to having been on a deserted island?” Oliver asked and shrugged: “No one would think of her there and Malcolm is high on security in his own building.”

Laurel looked impressed and nodded, still rubbing her shoulders to keep warm while Lance was nodding: “Okay, but only if I can stay there as well?”

Oliver didn’t even have to ask Tommy to know the answer to that one. Quentin might not be too fond of them both due to Sara’s accident but he would do anything to protect Laurel. And that made the Detective part of their Pack.

“Of course,” Oliver agreed and looked at Laurel and soothingly asked her: “Are you okay to pack a bag or shall I?”

Lance walked off to deal with a few things on his own while Laurel and Oliver headed for her room to pack an overnight bag. She looked at him while he took her bag and whispered: “What happened on that Island?”

“Why?”

Laurel frowned: “Because you threw that kitchen knife across the room? I’m not blind, Oliver.”

Resigned, Oliver sat down on the bed and passed her a one-dollar bill: “Attorney-Client privilege?”

Laurel took the bill surprised but nodded: “That makes me worried.”

Oliver said easily: “That along with hunting for food made me skilled with throwing stones and knives though we only produced two knives out of stone and never threw those again because they’re hard to find in the bush and they were essential to gutting a rabbit.”

“Why would that need to be under privilege?” Laurel asked with a frown: “Wait, don’t tell me. You’re clearly not ready yet.”

Oliver wasn’t more thankful than now for this: “I’m sorry,…”

Quickly throwing some cloths into her bag, Laurel shook her head: “No, I know. I may not understand how you’ve changed yet but I have to accept the persons you and Tommy are now. Surviving that long alone on an island will have changed you. I’m surprised you don’t have a friend called Friday.”

“Nah, he’s called John Constantine, and her name was Shado,” Oliver joked only it wasn’t that much of a joke. Shado had died trying to protect Tommy. She had known that Oliver and Tommy were a bonded pair. She had thrown herself in front of Ivo’s bullet meant for Tommy to make sure that Oliver wouldn’t die with Tommy. Which was rather likely given the tight bond they had.

She had been smart. She had had Sentinel and Guide study at her medical education and knew right after meeting them what they were. 

Shado’s friendship and her help had made sure Tommy and Oliver could survive the island. Getting her tattoo was an honor as much as it had been intended to pain them. Tommy did have the same tattoo, given that Slade thought Tommy just as guilty and wanted to kill him as well. Just dumb luck that Tommy and Oliver never told Slade they were a bonded Pair. 

Just their luck that Tommy had the ability to alter someone’s mind in the way that he could make them disappear from plain sight.

The noise of a zipper closing drew Oliver back to the present. Laurel smiled and relaxed to some degree which Oliver was glad for. Being attacked always left a scar.

~*~

Arriving at Tommy’s with the entourage of Laurel, Diggle and Quentin went over smoothly. The house staff had already arranged for guest bedrooms close by one another and the alarm was set as well. 

“Is Laurel okay?” Tommy asked them once they were behind closed doors. 

Oliver sighed: “She will be. She saw me throwing a knife and I told her she’s my lawyer before I say anything about the Island though I didn’t say much.”

“Good grounds for our plans,” Tommy nodded in agreement: “She’s already pack.”

“I know,” Oliver agreed and wrapped his arms around the dark haired. He took a deep, steadying breath and relaxed: “We need to go out but I don’t think tonight would be a good idea.”

“No, it most definitely wouldn’t. We also need to throw Lance off our trail. I can’t tell about Hunter but Diggle would be a good idea.”

“Especially since Quentin hates us.”

“I wouldn’t say hate,” Tommy disagreed: “More like the fact that he needed to blame someone for Sara’s death and we were convenient because we were dead, too. I think it will change soon enough.”

Accepting his Guide’s words, Oliver went down to sleep.

~*~

The curare bullets were another hit in their database the following day. The sniper all but had disappeared and was showing just now that he was still around.

Sadly, it was on an official party were Oliver and Tommy both had to attend. Slipping the bodyguards wasn’t easy but they had managed.

Only to shoot the guy and get shot at in return. Tommy was already closed off and hid behind a column while Oliver was still shooting to get Deadshot away from his Guide.

That was when Diggle showed up. A nice distraction but not good enough of one. Oliver saw him get hit slightly and Tommy took the shot to the arrow in Deadshot’s eye.

Leaving quickly because Oliver heard the sirens approaching, both men wrapped an arm around Diggle and dragged him off.

Off to their cave. And they dubbed it cave because that was their first lay on the island with Yao Fei after all.

“Are we really doing this?” Tommy asked with a frown: “You do know better than I do that I will still get assigned a bodyguard.”

“Yes, but with Diggle’s help we will be able to pull him off easier. Add that we could talk to our parents and ask if one ain’t enough. Its not like we have been attacked in the last two weeks.”

“You mean besides from tonight?”

Oliver rolled his eyes and kissed Tommy: “What are we telling him?”

“The bonded thing might be important?” Tommy shrugged: “And that you might go feral again.”

The “again” was heavy in Oliver’s stomach. In the first year, shortly after having arrived on the Island and after being tortured, Tommy had been taken alongside Yao Fei and Oliver had run wild. He had nearly killed all the men in the camp even with barely any training. The fear and rage had added enough of a kick to Oliver that he had managed to outsmart and outmaneuver any of his opponents and kill them.

When he had Tommy and Yao Fei free and dragged them off, he had collapsed. Upon wakening, he hadn’t even remembered what he had done. 

Oliver was brought back from his memories by Diggle waking up and looking at both Tommy and Oliver. The disbelieve was evident and Tommy winced slightly and shook his head: “Calm down, Diggle, we’ll explain if you let us.”

The other man hesitated a bit before nodding.

~*~

“Diggle?” Tommy asked and stuck his head around one corner in the Queen’s villa where Oliver was just talking to his family to make some amends and not cause further harm in always sneaking off.

“Mr Merlyn,” Diggle replied while Tommy rolled his eyes at the other man.

“Dig, I know we haven’t gotten around to tell you everything but we might have a small problem,” Tommy said and looked around as well as used his mental gift to seek anyone close by out. There wasn’t anyone close enough to overhear so Tommy went ahead: “Oliver and I might be arrested for the possibility of the vigilante.”

“Which you are. You are also two and swap places,” Diggle replied evenly.

“And the odd thing is that Oliver and I are back from a strange island, speaking Russian and Chinese and can throw knives across a room. Huh, strange, at the same time a hooded figure shows up. Who could that possibly be?”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Ollie and I might need a helping friend to hood up and be seen while we’re in police custody. Just this once, if you are in on it and you don’t have to actually fight…” Tommy said and slandered into the room, taking a glass and scotch from the sideboard and offering Dig the same.

Diggle declined with a shake of his head: “I think this is a really bad idea.”

“Yes, I know. But it’s not like the cops, especially Lance, are stupid. They would think of us first. Now, with us in custody and out of counts, that would leave you to give us an alibi so we’re free to do what we can.”

“Oliver put you up to talking to me, didn’t he?”

“Actually, no. He’s the quiet manipulative type which I figured wouldn’t go down so well with you. You don’t like being handled. You’re in a partnership, that’s what we offered so I’ll may not quite ask if you would do this because asking isn’t my strong suit but playing with open cards is my thing.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m being manipulated this way as well?”

“Probably because I’m using my good looks?” Tommy asked and smiled brightly at the other man. Diggle laughed and shook his head but agreed: “Okay.”

Tommy clapped his hands together: “Good, excellent.” 

Diggle shook his head with an amused smile and suddenly realized that while Tommy and Oliver would do anything for each other, they would also do everything to keep each other save. And everyone they considered their friends. Which had included Diggle or else he would have died from poisoning not a few days before. Tommy read that from Diggle and smiled, projecting the thoughts and the success of his talk to his Sentinel.

It was barely a few hours later that the doorbell rang and Lance showed up with an arrest warrant for both Tommy and Oliver. The whole being dragged away scene was rather hectic and confusing, Moira and Walter yelling, Diggle trying to be in the way and catching Oliver’s eye to nod and confirm their plan while Hunter was slightly smirking.

Tommy frowned at that but then focused on Thea, trying to reassure with a smile: “It will be okay Thea. I promise!”

She looked at him in surprise, eyes widening a bit and looking at Oliver again to confirm that Tommy had used those words and not Oliver. Oliver was still busy trying to manipulate Lance into throwing a punch in front of witnesses but the man was too enraged. Then Oliver looked at Moira: “Laurel is out lawyer, please get her.”

That actually made Lance falter in his steps. His partner, not easily to be influenced dragged Tommy close enough to bump into Oliver and as a result startle Quentin out of his freeze. If it had been on the island, Quentin would have been dead already.

Driving down to the station behind Oliver was slightly annoying given that the whole way was spent in silence. The amazing part about this would be their mental connection. He couldn’t wait and tell the same things Oliver did just in his own words.

~*~

Sitting in front of Lance was getting tired. Oliver wouldn’t be saying anything until Laurel showed up and then the fun would begin. They couldn’t pin both Tommy and him for the hood guy since no one had seen two men in a green hood anywhere.

“I wish to speak to my client,” Laurel said by entering the room, barely sending her father a glance: “You can add Tommy Merlyn to that list as well. Both men have paid me to be their lawyer since coming from the island.”

That was clearly a surprise for Quentin and the man hissed at his daughter but left the room dutifully. Laurel grinned at Oliver: “I do hope to get some better payment than the one-dollar bill, though.”

Oliver laughed: “That won’t be a problem. Now, Tommy and I cannot be both accounted for. Is it possible to stay together until the hearing?”

Laurel wondered about this briefly but nodded: “I think we can arrange for that but it will be tough given that they could argue about you talking to each other to make those stories match.”

//Tommy, please let Laurel know when you come in that we already have matching stories and can always talk on the fly. Also, thank her that she is taking you on for one-dollar as well.// Oliver mentally told his Guide and heard the other man being brought up outside their door.

The door opened then and Tommy was brought in, forced to sit down by some random uniformed cops and uncuffed. The door fell closed with a soft snick behind them.

“Hey Laurel,” Tommy grinned: “Thank you for taking me on as your client as well. All that for a dollar is pretty cool deal we got ourselves there. Oh and Oliver and I can always make up new stories on the fly. We don’t have to be in the same room for that.”

Laurel gaped at Tommy, then turned to stare at Oliver. She seemed to think something that Tommy caught up on and commented: “The latter, Laurel. You caught on surprisingly well.”

“And you’re the Guide,” she realized: “Well, this makes this quite a lot more interesting. I guess you’re both not sharing that information with everyone?”

“You’re the first to tell besides my bodyguard Diggle and that simply because I can pick up a threat more easily and it will help him do his job to protect me and my family. And you,” Oliver agreed.

“So, how do we get you out of here?” Laurel asked.

“Simple,” Tommy added: “We stay in police custody until the real vigilante shows up. Maybe you can arrange for house arrest at Merlyn Manor or Queen’s Villa. Either would work. Then, we are prepared to take a polygraph test to make sure we didn’t kill anyone.”

“I get the feeling it is Quentin Lance we need to convince, rather than the judge,” Oliver added: “There are no legal grounds he could be doing this on. I doubt he has any real proof either since we didn’t do it.”

Laurel assessed the whole thing and nodded: “We’ll sit down with the ADA and talk about this but it might be that you’ll have to spend the night.”

“Not a problem, as long as we could be close together,” Oliver shrugged: “I don’t feel comfortable leaving my Guide alone in Prison.”

“Understandable,” Laurel agreed: “I furthermore would not advice a polygraph test given that they’re not usable in court.”

“We know,” Tommy added.

Laurel eyed them both but stood in agreement and arranged the test.

~*~

“Your and Tommy’s bodies are covered in scars. Where did you get them from if you were on a deserted island?”

Laurel was about to interrupt but Oliver shook his head: “We were tortured.”

The surprise that fell on Quentin was telltale. The shock Laurel was in was understandable. Tommy’s presence in the room wasn’t helpful but the look in his eyes told them everything. The pity in the polygraph-guy’s emotions was telltale to a Guide. The understanding was a surprise from Lance but that man had probably worked with other torture survivors before to know what to expect. Laurel’s empathy was nice though.

“On a deserted island?” Quentin asked sharply.

“Obviously not deserted. Terrorists and drug lords, mostly.” Oliver said: “They tortured us, wanted to know how we got to the island. Didn’t believe us no matter what we said. They left us behind, believing we had died.”

“They probably saw us on the news,” Tommy added: “We think they might come after us.”

“Those guys that kidnapped you?” Lance asked.

“No,” Tommy said quickly: “Logistically, that would have been too soon. They would have taken more time to arrange that on a scale of six men.”

Lance sighed: “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“Because pity isn’t something we want,” Oliver replied: “And who would have believed us anyways? You, Detective?”

Lance stayed silent. Laurel gaped at them and didn’t hinder them when both scrambled to get the sensors off off them and headed outside, into the corridor that was deserted to share a quick hug and gather their thoughts.

~*~

“You don’t seriously consider throwing a party?” Thea asked surprised and rather pissed. She shook her head: “How can you two be serious?”

“We think we will walk but I really don’t want to spent my whole week imprisoned at home being alone,” Oliver said: “Well, not too alone given that Tommy is staying here with us.”

“Yeah, how did Laurel arrange for that?” Thea asked surprised: “I mean I heard the whole thing but I don’t know what she wrote down.”

Oliver sighed and sat forward on the deckchair: “Tommy and I…what we went through… you know I still have troubles sleeping. Tommy is the same. We used to sleep close together in the cave we found shelter on. He stayed up for the first part of the night, I did for the second. We had hopes that fishermen would come, and they eventually did. Other than that we had wolves on the island.”

Thea eyed him, surprised. She was looking for a reply when Tommy walked up to them, sitting down next to Oliver and focusing on his sister: “We also wanted to talk to you about something else.”

“What now? That the party won’t be the only one this week?” she asked, snidely.

Tommy shared a look with Oliver but decided to go ahead anyways: “When we were in the hospital, we had a mix-up with our lab results. You’ve been to the hospital before and we were tested to really be Oliver and Tommy.”

Thea nodded, fully focused on both now: “Yeah, I know.”

“What you don’t know and what we don’t tell Moira and my father that we know is, that the mix-up in blood works showed me as your brother. Same as Oliver.” Tommy said.

“What?” she asked, surprised: “Wait, what? Are you telling me-“

“We have the same father, Thea, while you and Oliver have the same mother.”

“No,…I can’t that…” Thea started and then looked at Oliver: “You knew?”

“Since then yes. We wanted to tell you after we made sure and ran another independent DNA test. The results came back this morning,” Oliver confirmed: “We wanted to tell you because we don’t think Malcolm knows. We’re not even sure Dad knew about the affair Mom must have had.”

Thea was about to lose it completely but Tommy took her hand in his and squeezed it: “We’re just as surprised, but I am also very happy to have such a strong, smart, beautiful sister. Thea, you were already my sister. I always loved you like a sister. This just means it is by blood as well.”

“I know. Thank you for telling me, I just…”

“Need a moment?” Oliver asked quietly: “Yeah, trust me, we’ve been there.”

Thea smiled bravely but it wavered slightly: “Thank you for telling me. I know it must have been hard to hear that right after coming back.”

“Thea?” Oliver asked her when she was already about to turn away: “Dad, I mean, Robert, loved you like his own daughter just like he loved Tommy like his own son. Don’t ever doubt that.”

“Thanks,” she said sincerely and took a breath before leaving.

Oliver sighed: “That went rather well.”

“I still think we should have told her about being together first.” Tommy admitted.

“Yeah, its going to be weird anyways,” Oliver added: “C’mon, time to make our alibi stick.”

~*~

The party was in full swing. Tommy and Oliver were showing themselves while Thea was close by and smiling at them. The shock had obviously passed and she was talking to Tommy as normally as ever. It would take a bit more time.

Laurel showed up, shaking her head at them but accepting the whole fact. She briefly followed Oliver to his room where he was about to talk to Diggle how his attack on the German weapon distributer was going. 

Oliver briefly checked his senses out to Tommy who was in his own room, having spilt beer on his cloths before coming by and seeing Oliver talk to Laurel. Sadly, Tommy hadn’t buttoned up his shirt yet so that the scars and the Russian Mob tattoo were showing.

“Tommy!?” Laurel asked surprised and stepped closer: “I knew after the hearing, but this…”

Oliver nodded and loosened a few buttons to show his scars that were partly matching: “Emotional torture. Matching scars.”

“That is sick,” she whispered: “How could someone…” she stared at them before she turned on the spot and bolted. 

Suddenly, the door flew open again and in came two men, dressed as waiters and about to shoot at Oliver but Tommy was there, knocking the gun away while Oliver took the IKEA-red glass paperweight from his desk and threw it at the second guy.

Then fighting begun.

Both Tommy and Oliver were just down when the guys scrambled for their guns and were about to shoot them when three, four shots rang out and Lance stood in the door, smoking gun and looked rather startled: “Those mobsters?”

“Could be?” Tommy asked.

Quentin eyed Oliver behind the couch while Tommy was getting off of the floor from nearby the window: “Anyone hurt?”

“Nothing serious,” Oliver replied.

“Right, anything a normal person would consider serious? Your pain threshold is probably off the charts.” The cop said, holstering his gun and checking the two now dead guys.

Tommy smiled a little: “No, Detective, nothing a bag of frozen peas won’t cure.”

Next, the whole building was cleared and police swamped in.

All the while, Oliver tried to keep an ear out for Diggle.

~*~

They were down in the living room, gathering together while Malcolm was stalking up and down the room but when he said he had been worried, Tommy’s glance at Oliver spoke volumes to the Sentinel. The heartbeat that was absent was just that, a tell that the other man was lying.

Raisa thankfully was already up in the room, organizing the clean-up of Oliver’s room given that it was a cleared shooting by Detective Lance due to the fact that two strangers with fingerprints on the guns and two house-arrested with bruises were there to tell the tale.

Lance strode into the room, followed by Hilton and sighed in resignation when he indicated Oliver’s and Tommy’s feet up on the table and presented a key to remove the tracking anklets.

“What’s going on?” Thea asked surprised.

“The vigilante was spotted across town. Since I was right there to shoot the attackers, they couldn’t have been there,” Lance admitted but the frown on his face showed that he still didn’t trust the evidence. The judge’s daughter conveniently had been on the party when the attack had happened and had informed her mother who had come over right away to pick up said daughter and tell Lance to remove the trackers as soon as possible.

It all quieted down rather quickly after that even if Malcolm insisted on Tommy going home with him to stay while Moira asked that Oliver please stay with them.

Laurel, who was still present, eyed them and wanted to cut in but Thea was first: “I don’t think after having been attacked that it is a good idea to separate them. This might cut too close to the-“ she stopped then, realizing that she had no real idea what to say next, given that she didn’t know what. She just had wanted both her brothers to stay. She finished with: “Island.”

The silence that fell over them was uncomfortable. Walter shook his head, not knowing what to suggest this time and really, it was up to Oliver and Tommy after all.

Tommy looked at his Sentinel and nodded slightly. He would comply if need be but he wasn’t happy about it either: “I can’t promise to sleep the whole night through.”

Malcolm looked like he had swallowed a lemon but looked at the grandfather clock: “I think Oliver can come over for breakfast if he needs to and you’ll have time then.”

Agreeing, Tommy touched his forehead to Oliver’s and whispered a barely there: “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

~*~

Fine meant that neither Oliver nor Tommy were sleeping. Well, they had been off to sleep – Oliver had taken a guest bedroom since his room was still rather destroyed – and then both had woken up, not quite screaming but it was close. So then Oliver was walking into the kitchen, getting some hot chocolate – that he had missed on the island – and called Tommy since he knew that they both had woken at the same time.

“I hate this,” Tommy said: “Why do they want to separate us so much?”

Oliver sighed and expanded his senses to the whole house and found everyone sleeping: “I don’t know. It is something along with Hunter that we need to consider. Add that Malcolm and Mom knew about us being possible Guide and Sentinel and apparently testing us. Thea is another topic as well as that you reported Malcolm being secretive. Maybe I should stay a few more days at your place or we should surveillance him.”

“That is a good idea. We also need to talk to Moira about her involvement with the Gambit. I know she has something to do with it. It’s something Walter discovered. His thoughts were pretty occupied with the whole issue. He asked one of your tech-girls to hack the systems.”

“Felicity?” he asked surprised: “I asked her about a laptop once because she is the best.”

Tommy hummed: “Good enough to be in the cave?”

“She would be ideal,” Oliver agreed: “We’ll have to check her out and think about it but I guess she is a good person and nosy enough for this job.”

“Did you check up on Dig?” Tommy asked quietly.

Oliver sighed: “I didn’t get around to call him given what went on here but I sent him a message that I knew he was save at the cave and did well. Given that Lance was here and would have asked where Diggle was throughout the attack, I thought it wise not to ask him here.”

“Oh, right. He did ask me and I said that we had a small fallout due to sneaking away. Dig had quit but we were trying to talk to him to come back while Hunter was with my father and given that we did have additional security for the party they deemed it unnecessary for them to stick around. Besides, if we had been in the crowd, there would have been no way they could have been there either way.”

Oliver’s head then turned on instinct when he heard movement in the house. He quickly recognized it to be Raisa and frowned given that the woman couldn’t have slept more than three hours in total: “Tommy, Raisa’s here. I’ll call you back.”

“Nah, just come over for breakfast in a few,” Tommy said: “We need to check the business and remodeling works for the club. Add apartment hunting since we apparently have a target on hour backs and it will make moving around much easier.”

“Хаски и сокол,” (Husky and Hawk) Oliver replied. It was a saying they had used on the island after having learned Russian. Well, they did have the saying in Chinese as well but secretly they preferred Russian over Chinese. 

“Я люблю тебя и люблю наша сестру.” (I love you and I love our sister) Tommy replied simply and Oliver had to smile. Yes, Thea was very important.

“Mr Queen?” Raisa asked surprised at finding him in the kitchen. She looked like she had barely slept which was no surprise really and Oliver hated himself for having thrown the party and simply going off to sleep without thinking about the woman that usually managed their household.

“Raisa,” he replied: “did you sleep at all?”

“No, and it looks like you didn’t either,” she indicated the empty mug in front of him and the phone that just turned black due to inactive screen.

Oliver sighed: “I barely slept ever since coming home. It’s odd to be back here. Safe and not safe at the same time, given that we were attacked earlier tonight.”

“They were Russian Mob.” Raisa said simply.

Oliver sighed: “No, they weren’t. Anatoly would never send anyone after me.” Oliver pulled his shirt aside and showed Raisa the tattoo: “He owes his life to me.”

“You know the leader of the Солнцевская братва?” she looked slightly scared: “What happened to you?”

Oliver sighed and shook his head: “Anatoly was stranded on the island with us for a while. I haven’t told anyone but he was there. He taught Tommy and me how to speak Russian and after each one of us saved his life, he made us a captain.”

“Why didn’t he come and get you?”

“We were off the island,” Oliver admitted: “On a submarine and an old ship. They had to leave without us or risk an epidemic. Anatoly had every reason to believe we got away clean.” Oliver sighed: “It was too complicated.”

“And that’s why you cannot sleep?” Raisa asked and refilled his cup with a hot chocolate.

Oliver looked at her and smiled tightly: “Partly. I’m not used to –“

“You are missing Mr Merlyn,” she nodded: “You are his Sentinel.”

Surprised, Oliver looked at Raisa: “You cannot tell anyone.”

She shook her head in denial: “Понятно, ну хорошо.“ (I understand, it’s okay).

He knew why he liked her instinctively. It was relaxing to know that she knew about them and a part of their story of the island. She wouldn’t dare telling anyone what he had revealed and that was what he liked about her.

“You will get used to sleeping in a bed again. You will be fine.”

They stayed silent after that, sipping their drinks when Oliver picked up the sound of Thea’s feet walking down the stairs and making her way to them. She looked surprised to see them but recovered quickly without a pause: “Couldn’t sleep either?”

“No, I barely slept at all,” Oliver commented while Raisa wanted to head for the stove but Oliver stilled her with a hand on hers and he got up himself to pour Thea a cup: “What’s going on in your mind, Thea?”

“A lot,” she replied: “Mostly that my brothers were about to be killed.”

Wrapping Thea in a hug was easy and a comfort Oliver needed just as much as his sister did. It was appearing that ever since he had come back from the Island that he only ever touched Tommy or bad guys and it felt strange to be close to someone else, to be touched and reach out to touch.

Reminding himself that it was human, Oliver realized just how lonely they had been on that not so deserted island.

~*~

Having come back from the dead was a huge amount of paperwork. So much that the bank accounts they used to have were hard to access even though the money had been wired back to the legal heirs. Moira and Malcolm both had opened new bank accounts with the original trust funds that had been rightfully theirs given at birth but they conditioned that those trust funds were not to be used to open up the club. 

Both Moira and Malcolm had enough money to gave them the funds to start on but the remaining accounting was in their hands.

Just their luck that an accounting book had washed up on their shore.

Literally.

Spending the day working on the sheets to the night club and a remodeled, new version with more security doors and third and fourth hidden exits was a must. The strategic movements they would have to do from the cave required secrecy and all time access. So a night club on top of their HQ was rather smart.

“We need a visitor’s room.”

“What?” Oliver asked surprised: “What for?”

“Imagine a Diggle situation. We would bring them right into the center and they would know about this place. Yes, we have at least three security measures to enter before the door swings open at any entrance but that would be rather mood when someone decides to blow up the whole walls.” Tommy sighed: “Not to mention the four different exits have to be well hidden as well and we need at least three separate power lines.”

Oliver smiled at Tommy and kissed him deeply: “I love that brain of yours.”

Tommy grinned back at him before indicating the plans again: “Furthermore we need a secondary location in case this one is compromised. We should also think of a soundproof room for you to isolate you in or to sleep in, should we need to stay the whole night.”

“And showers,” Oliver added: “A washing machine as well as a fridge and lab equipment,” Oliver nodded: “Car and bikes?”

“We already have the bikes. We would need a van or something. Maybe quite a few burner phones and Kevlar.”

“Where do we get that from?”

“China. Just lucky enough that we know someone working for Kevlar productions that could send us a crate.”

“Mei, Shado’s sister,” Oliver realized suddenly.

Tommy indicated a winning bell that rung out: “Exactly. Furthermore, we need space to train.”

“Salmon ladder, weights, shooting range, sparring place,” Oliver started: “What else?”

“Mats for the floor and wall, ropes to practice abseiling and different weapons.” 

Making a list, Oliver focused on taking the notes while Tommy was arranging a few walls on the plans to add more space: “We need to cave out some walls over there. It has to look as if we use the whole older part of the factory as storage. It would be noticeable if the cellar suddenly shrunk to a cell.”

“Making too many adjustments will take too much time,” Oliver reminded him: “We don’t have that much time.”

“We will have to take it,” Tommy then looked over the blueprints: “We need stronger materials. Reinforced walls and that stuff. Not unlike a bunker.”

A beeping noise drew their attention and Diggle stepped in: “Time for your appointment with the realtor.”

Quickly grabbing a coffee and something to eat, Tommy and Oliver were on their way in the back of the car. Diggle was driving them quietly but added a few points in security and in points of movement time when it came to gearing up.

The first handful locations weren’t ideal to their needs. The fifth and sixth looked better. The last place on their list was originally not their plan given that it was a loft-like space that overlooked part of the city and had a huge glass wall and a balcony. The balcony was ideal for their activities but the glass was impractical until the realtor showed them that with a flick of a switch the windows became opaque.

“We’ll take it,” Tommy said quickly and smirked at Oliver: “That is if the glass is also bulletproof.”

The realtor was about to ask but then seemed to remember the headline from this morning because she nodded: “Yes, it is bulletproof. The elevator is only the major one, used by everyone in the building. You do have an additional elevator behind the wall panels that don’t officially go up here. No one can come up from there without a key and it’s not a regular elevator but a service one for the offices below us.”

“Panic room?” Diggle asked suddenly: “These places usually have them.”

The realtor nodded: “I was about to show you this one. It’s on the upper level.”

Making their way up, they walked past the wooden walls when the realtor indicated a tiny spot in the woodwork. It looked like from the wood’s pattern but was a button. A door swung open and closed right after them. 

The inside was big enough to store some of their equipment, food, water and a mattress.

Perfect.

“Yep, we’ll take it,” Oliver agreed and was really glad that this loft had at least four bedrooms. Enough for Diggle to stay over if he needed to and for one of their friends and family to stay if they were in need of protection.

Thankfully, Tommy’s and Oliver’s private search for a rundown safe house and another place for their secondary cave was much easier.

~*~

Settling into the new apartment was rather tricky and given that Thea was still sometimes acting out with drugs that Tommy and Oliver tried very hard to keep her away from, they were busy.

Add their nightly adventures, both Oliver and Tommy were tried but not more than usually, due to the fact that they still barely slept.

Moira and Malcolm were both still rather distant about the fact that they would be moving in together and while Malcolm knew about them, Oliver had yet to tell his mother about the relationship he had with Tommy but that would go hand in hand in telling Thea and both men weren’t quite ready for that yet, even if they mostly suspected something.

Hunter was rather annoying and following them around just as much on Malcolm’s insistence. While the guy was essentially useless, Diggle was sometimes used to keep Hunter away from them so they could sneak away. 

It was time to spy on Malcolm Merlyn and find out what exactly the other man was hiding. That and the secret meetings with Moira. 

Walter had up and left suddenly, which was another mystery to unfold but thanks to Tommy they could at least ask Felicity about this now.

“Christmas is about to come up,” Tommy reminded him suddenly: “Dad, uh, I mean Robert used to make those Christmas parties.”

“You want to throw one?” Oliver asked clearly surprised but considered it for a moment.

Tommy sighed: “We haven’t had a Christmas in five years and I think it will bring us together with the family.”

“Only if we have moved out by that time. I want to be able to just sneak off if we need to. We could arrange for it in case something happens that we just feel tired.”

“Or get a panic attack. You know we can fake those rather good by now.” Tommy smirked: “Sounds good.”

Oliver looked around their cave, working constructions going on above and nodded: “Yeah, a rather good idea.”

“And you need to talk to Thea about us.”

“Why me?” Oliver sighed. He hated being the bad guy and the bad brother that always nagged on Thea. He knew she was seventeen and essentially a teenager. She was bound to act out and she did lose quite a few important people on the same day.

Sara came to his mind and he winced.

“Because she still sees you as her brother more than me,” Tommy explained: “I think she has a crush on me but that faded quickly when we told her about our DNA results.”

“Then we should both be sitting her down and talk to her. Maybe we could arrange for her to stay a night between Christmas and New Years?” Oliver offered: “Some time together would be good for us to reconnect with her.”

“And try to influence her away from those drugs.” Tommy said dryly: “Do you think she’s a Guide or Sentinel as well?”

Oliver considered it for a moment: “We don’t know whether my Dad or Rebecca was the one to pass the genes on,” Oliver sighed: “It is hard to prove the Sentinel and Guide Gene either way and I rather not know. Besides, if we’re right and they wanted to keep us away from another due to the knowledge of us coming online and bonding, it would indicate that Thea isn’t at risk here.”

“She would make an amazing Sentinel though,” Tommy grinned: “Besides, she trusts her gut quite a lot.”

That made Oliver pause. They really had no clue whether a person would come online or not but behavior usually showed them a great deal. Thea could be a Sentinel, yes. 

~*~

Black arrows in a dead body. A copycat. Oliver and Tommy knew that their arrows were identical and they would always look the same way. Those reported black arrows were in no way from them.

Someone was killing people and they were using their MO. There couldn’t be that many archers around. Seriously, it was nearly impossible to copy arrows that were self-made.

“We need to get one of those arrows,” Tommy said contemplatively: “We might be able to trace them back to the shipment factory and get a delivery address.”

Oliver nodded: “Do we contact Lance or break in?”

“I would think to establish a link to the Detective would be a good idea. This Archer might be around for a while if we can’t find them out and in that case the Detective should know about us to fight that man.”

Oliver agreed: “My thoughts exactly.”

“I know. You’ve been trying to befriend Detective Lance as Oliver Queen quite a lot.”

“That man is smart. He figured us out rather quickly. I think this wasn’t the last time he suspected us and if we can be friendly, it might help.”

Tommy looked calculating at his Sentinel: “Then we need to make sure not to kill anyone again.”

“You know we’ve been trying not to kill anyone. It’s not that simple.”

“And your Sentinel instincts paired with my knowledge of what those men we killed would have done is enough to make you continue anyways. Which in turn influences me.”

“You’re always the voice of reason.” Oliver smiled: “I love you even more for it.”

“Ah you know what they say about corrupting a Guide’s mind.”

They looked at another and laughed: “It’s impossible to make a Guide go Dark Side.”

~*~

The preparations for the Christmas Party were rather smooth and alongside moving into the new apartment rather hectic. Not that Oliver or Tommy had much stuff littering around. They had been on an island without any luxury and living like that showed you exactly what was important and what wasn’t. Sure, they did bring family photos, one picture where Rebecca, Robert, Thea, Moira and the two boys were in. It was coincidentally taken on a Christmas party.

Pictures of Laurel and Sara also made it into the new apartment but aside from a few backup arrows and bows, nothing much was there yet. 

Showing up on the Christmas party together was pretty cool and Tommy was with them on the family photo, next to Walter. Tommy was family after all.

Missing out was Malcolm Merlyn who had yet to show up.

The party was rather well going, even if Thea brought a suspect looking guy that Tommy frowned at. Trying not to make a scene, Oliver asked Thea aside and spoke to her: “Does he do drugs?”

“What? No,” Thea looked at him, angry and Oliver knew Tommy was way better in dealing with those kind of conversations but he still continued.

“I hope you’re not doing the same mistakes I did,” he added: “I know I haven’t been the best brother and I haven’t been around much, but I really try looking out for you.”

“Haven’t been around much? Ollie, all you do is be with Tommy and when you’re with us, you’re barely talking or running out on us. You’re not even back here.” She replied: “And you’re right, you weren’t around for a long time and that doesn’t give you the right to accuse my friends of doing drugs. I don’t need you looking out for me if this is what I can expect.”

Oliver sighed and nodded: “I know. Speedy, I don’t want you to see me, or Tommy, how we really are. We’re still broken and picking up the pieces. We’re not around because we don’t want to worry you.”

Thea frowned at her brother with a question on her lips but Oliver shook his head: “Not here, please. Tommy and I would like you to come and stay with us for a night or two before New Years so we can spend some time together and talk about this.”

“I hope that includes why you threw a party that I asked you not to give,” Thea replied but the heat in her statement was lacking. She seemed to have reconsidered her answer but she still walked away.

Oliver balled his hand into a fist and took a deep breath. He looked up and around when he heard Diggle approaching, Tommy not too far behind and Dig made a gesture to follow him.

He sighed, wanting to talk to Thea some more but obviously something was more important. The video showing that the black archer had called them out and taken hostages on Christmas was really annoying.

“It’s my turn, Ollie, go be with your family and I’ll take him on,” Tommy said quickly.

Surprised, the Sentinel stared at his Guide: “This guy is trained, obviously. I’m not letting you go in there alone when we’re not going in alone on other occasions. And you’re my Guide. So, hell no. You may take lead but I’m not letting you go alone.”

Tommy nodded and walked a few steps over to their hiding space for their backup gear. It was rather well hidden after Lance had searched the house but deemed necessary after the attack.

Quickly and carefully they made their leave. Oliver told Moira that he felt like a panic attack was coming on and Tommy was being close to Oliver, reassuring Moira that he would take care of Oliver and the crowd was just too much.

Leaving quickly and with their bikes was easy after that.

Sneaking into the house where the hostages were, finding them, the explosives and getting them out was done quickly and mostly Oliver’s job while Tommy was sneaking around, looking for the man in black.

The Archer found him first.

Oliver could feel the pain Tommy felt when he was hit. The Kevlar did its job quite well but those four arrows in the back would hurt nonetheless. Oliver hesitated in helping Tommy. He knew it was his duty as a Sentinel but giving away there were two of them wasn’t good.

Tommy was tough though and turned, shooting an arrow back before trying to escape in the shadows where Oliver was. Carefully pulling an arrow from Tommy’s back, Oliver stuck it half-heartedly into the fabric of his back and sneaked back around the corner, indicating Tommy to stay in the shadows and hidden.

Also getting an arrow into his back for real now sucked. Damn, that archer was good. He did have the advantage of knowing their location and Oliver had to draw the other away from Tommy.

Shooting another arrow, Oliver decided to make an escape.

Calling Diggle to pick them up wasn’t easy but that’s why they did have a van bought. And the police were well on their way.

Landing in hospital and playing it off as the panic attack struck them on Tommy’s bike was rather suspicious but their bruises weren’t.

~*~

The few days following were easier and both Tommy and Oliver took a few days off, given that they had bruised ribs and had worried their families. 

Thea, as promised, would be staying the night with them.

It was the first time she was in their apartment and stepped inside, glancing around and whistling in surprise: “Wow, this is rather far away from an island.”

“We had enough of that,” Tommy agreed in greeting and kissed her on the cheek. He always did that and it was good to see Thea and Tommy act like before the island, even if they were much closer now.

“I can definitely see that,” she dropped her overnight bag on the floor and walked towards the fire place: “This is actually getting used? You don’t have staff to do this for you.”

“One of the things of being on an island, you learn how to make fire quickly or have to eat the meat raw. Or freeze. Depending.” Oliver joked and handed Thea a glass and some of her favorite juice.

Thea rolled her eyes: “Who was having the short straw and had to gut the animals?”

“We traded places,” Tommy smiled: “Only way to ensure we both survived even when one of us was laid up with a broken leg or something.”

Thea frowned: “I heard the doctors mention that you had over twenty broken bones that mended wrongly.”

Oliver winced slightly while Tommy averted his eyes, looking at Oliver.

Sitting down on the couch, Oliver shrugged: “It was a lot of try and error.”

“And dumb luck,” Tommy added while Thea took a seat on the couch as well. Tommy settled into an armchair nearby.

Taking a sip of her juice and placing the glass on the table, Thea looked from one man to the other: “So you’re really both my brothers.”

“We are,” Tommy added: “And there is something we wanted to tell you about us.”

Oliver smiled at Tommy, realizing that the other man was just as uncomfortable and nervous as he himself was even if they didn’t show it by much. Tommy’s nervous tick was getting even more silent, more controlled in his body movements than even Oliver could.

Thea focused on Tommy but Oliver spoke up next: “Tommy and I are together.”

Thea’s head and long curls flew around to focus on Oliver: “Like, relationship together?”

“Yep,” Tommy added: “Ever since the beginning of being on the island.”

“But why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Two reasons,” Oliver started: “ever since we could remember, they were displeased with our friendship. I think you know that.”

Thea contemplated that for a moment, tilting her head and thinking it over: “Now that you mention it, yes. But why would they disagree of you being friends?”

“Essentially, we think Malcolm’s and Moira’s affair while my mom and Robert were around being one thing,” Tommy begun.

“Another that someone might figure out you’re Tommy’s half-sister,” Oliver continued.

Tommy concluded then: “Or maybe the fact that they never wanted for Oliver and me to come online as Sentinel and Guide and be together.”

Gaping was pretty much all Thea could do for three or four seconds while it all settled in: “And you’re telling me all this because-?”

“First, because you’re our sister and deserve to know,” Oliver said quickly.

“And we believe that you could also be a Sentinel or Guide. Which is rather likely after Oliver and I did some digging and found that my father’s and Moira’s family tree had the genetics for it and if both Oliver and I are online, chances are high you might come online as well.” Tommy explained: “We just hope you don’t need to be stranded on a deserted island for that to surface in you. And we very much rather you knew how to deal with it than stumble around blindly and unprotected.”

“We were lucky there were no people around or Tommy would have gone mad with the mental assault,” Oliver stated: “I barely knew how to handle my senses and we were simply lost. It was dumb luck we were compatible and had already felt drawn to another.”

“So basically you’re telling me all this because our parents suck at keeping secrets and are bastards for sleeping around and not telling anyone,” Thea summarized: “And I might be coming online as something.”

Oliver nodded. Tommy leant back in the chair and bit his lip.

“It’s good that I’m staying the night, there is no way this isn’t a huge deal,” she said and took a deep breath: “I’ll need some air.” She went over to the balcony and went outside.

Tommy intercepted Oliver who wanted to head after her with his hands on Oliver’s chest: “Let her. She needs some processing time.”

Oliver hated this but knew Tommy was right. The Guide never erred on the mental needs of others, much less Oliver’s. Pressing a kiss to Oliver’s lips and drawing him into a kiss was easy and a distraction as much as a relaxing technique. They had used it as an easy means to calm the other down.

Drawing back from the kiss, Oliver felt eyes on him and focused on Thea who was watching them. Tommy smiled at her and waved sheepishly. She smiled tightly but then it brightened and she turned back to look out over the city.

“I’ll grab a shower,” Oliver said: “Maybe she’ll talk to you in the meantime.”

“Good chance for that. Keep an ear out,” Tommy added.

Oliver did and followed Tommy’s movements and the rustling of fabric when he settled back down into the couch. It wasn’t long before Thea came back in and sat down next to Tommy: “You might understand why I’m being thrown about this and may have overreacted to Oliver about you both coming back from the island differently than when you left.”

“You changed as well, Thea. A few things you do, they remind us of who we were and what we did wrong in our life. Landing on an island tends to shift your focus on what’s really important.”

“Like family?”

“Trust, truth, a hot shower,” Tommy grinned. Thea laughed at that and Oliver realized that he hadn’t heard her laugh all that much since they came back.

Thea took another sip of her juice before speaking again: “You and Oliver, it is weird if it ever comes out publically that I’m your sister.”

“I know. It’s not like Oliver and I haven’t thought about that and how it might affect you. But you deserve the truth. We trust you to be adult enough to deal with it like we also had to come to terms with it.” Tommy answered neutrally: “My father… you may know he left me alone when I was nine?”

“I remember. I was thinking you would live with us forever and one day I was surprised when you had moved out after all that time,” Thea agreed: “Since then you’ve felt like my brother as well.”

“Well, he claimed to have loved my mother so much that he couldn’t face me,” Tommy started and Oliver was reminded painfully when on the island Tommy had laid his soul bare about this as well.

“And you’re wondering how he can have loved her that much and had an affair with my mother?” Thea completed the sentence.

Tommy sighed, mentally exhausted: “Yes. Exactly. I want you to know that I want to protect you from the pain that man can cause you.”

Thea touched Tommy’s hand at that point to give out some comfort: “I consider Dad, I mean, Robert, to be my dad. He raised us both Tommy. He was always there as far as I can remember. I think that counts more than a biological father.”

Wrapping Thea in a hug, Tommy wholeheartedly agreed though his own relationship with his father was more complicated than that. Tommy did love the other man after all and he also loved Robert like a father.

Oliver returned then, still having slightly damp hair and smiling at both of them.

They settled down on the couch with Thea in the middle to watch a move. They did have some catching up to do. Harry Potter, a new Star Trek, Die Hard, James Bond and a new Sherlock Holmes. The list was long.

~*~

Waking up the next morning, Oliver turned over in bed and tried to snuggle up to Tommy again but was irritated when he heard Thea moving around the kitchen. Tommy, too, was just waking up and both men went up to go into the kitchen as well.

And completely forgetting putting a shirt on.

Thea’s surprised stare, the shock and a falling, shattering cup of hot coffee was making Oliver wince.

“Oh my god!” Thea yelled and Tommy bit his lower lip again: “Sorry?”

“Sorry? What the hell happened to you on that island!?” Thea yelled.

Oliver was across the kitchen in two long strides and bent down to pick up the pieces. Given that they were barefoot rather important: “I’m sorry we scared you like this, Thea.”

“Yeah, that’s over now so tell me what the hell happened to you there?” she fired back.

Tommy handed over a towel for Oliver and answered Thea’s question: “We weren’t that alone on the island. We just…try to keep it a secret and not make people look at us like we’re damaged for surviving torture.”

“Surviving torture,” she repeated: “They made your scars near and tattoos identical for a reason?”

“Emotional torture. Among trying to play us and make us lose trust in another, they tried to blackmail us with letting the other go if we did everything they wanted. The tattoos are pretty much the same story but the Chinese writing and the Russian Star.” Oliver answered.

“What is that Chinese for?”

“We don’t know yet. Some guy came at us with magic, talked some stuff about angels and demons and a second later both Oliver and I had a tattoo.” Tommy shrugged: “Weird guy that one. Not dangerous like the others.”

“And the Russian Star?” Thea asked interested but also catalogued the other scars with her eyes.

“We saved a Russian Mob boss and as a thank you we got a captain star,” Tommy explained: “If we ever get into trouble, that is like a secret trading card and means a lot.”

“So the island and that guy is where you learned Russian from?”

“Yep. The guy sadly sailed off with a submarine and left us behind,” Oliver said: “We didn’t even know if he was alive until we made it off the island. Turned out he just returned from the dead as well.”

Thea looked down on the floor and knelt down, picking up a tiny piece of porcelain: “You missed this.”

Oliver shared a meaningful look with Tommy over her head. She should hot have been able to see this.

~*~

Thea’s birthday party was rather uneventful and both Tommy and Oliver were thankful for that. She had taken the difficulties with stride and though she had troubles comprehending the changes, Oliver and Tommy reminded her that she wasn’t alone in going through those.

Oliver only caught glimpses of conversations around them but it wasn’t enough to know what was going on or else Tommy and he would have been around to keep Walter from being kidnapped.

And the reason was rather unknown so far as well. Oliver watched as Thea was crumbling down and secretly wondered what it would take for her to flip online as a Sentinel. He should talk to Tommy that they got her trained.

“What are you worried about?” Tommy asked quietly so that no one on the party would hear them talking.

Oliver sighed but turned to his Guide: “Walter’s disappearance. Why would someone kidnap him and not demand ransom when they know who he is?”

“You think its not related to Queen Consolidated,” Tommy mentioned the suspicion they had.

“If we just knew what it was about, that would actually help,” Oliver said angry and frustrated: “I didn’t hear them talk about anything.”

“It’s not your fault. We don’t know whose it is yet but not yours,” Tommy said and tried to calm the other man down.

Thea was looking at them from the distance but Tommy shook his head slightly for Oliver to tell him that she couldn’t hear them talking. She frowned at them though and knew they were talking about something more serious than she could comprehend just yet.

“We need to tell her eventually before she gets mad that we never told her about this,” Tommy said: “she’s the kind to hold grudges and if we’re straight with her, it will go a long way.”

“I know but at the same time I want to keep her save.”

“As do I but if she is a Sentinel which we don’t doubt then she will feel the need to protect as well and that instinct will be so strong that she would do anything. You of all people should know that.” 

“I do,” Oliver nodded and he knew Tommy was right. He had thought about it himself quite a few times to be honest.

Diggle was walking up to them and indicated them to follow him outside: “Felicity Smoak is outside wanting to see you, Oliver.”

“Tommy?”

“I’ll stay here. Who knows what she wants to talk to you about that she won’t reveal with me present,” Tommy said and expanded his mental gift to their guest: “She wants to talk about Walter.”

The nervous blond woman was making Oliver smile. Felicity had a good heart, Oliver knew that and she was a good candidate for them. He needed to make sure she was nosy and that she clearly was.

“Felicity,” he greeted her with a smile and knew Tommy was thinning the persona shields between them so that he could listen in and give Oliver the ability to read Felicity as easily as Tommy always could. It wasn’t something they did often due to some problems of blending out their surroundings.

“Mr Queen,” she replied nervously and adjusted her glasses. 

“Oliver, please,” he corrected her and she looked at him with surprise but accepted it easily: “I may know why Walter Steele was abducted.”

Oliver frowned: “And why are you coming to me with this?”

“Because I think it’s not about ransom rather than what Mr Steele found out,” Felicity was worked up about this and started to ramble: “He made me find out everything I could about this book here,” she handed him an identical book to the one Tommy and he had been given by Robert before the man had shot himself and she continued: “This is a list of names and I think that Walter Steele knew too much and that is why someone took him to keep him from finding out more about it.”

Oliver took the book from her and nodded: “And you think my mother knows about this?”

“She did have the book hidden here somewhere and I don’t think she is directly responsible for his disappearance rather than he had been taken to keep her from saying anything. And I’m terrible sorry for saying that its none of my business.”

Tommy walked out of the side and stepped next to Oliver: “Why come to Oliver with this?” Felicity gaped at Tommy and was about to draw back when Tommy added: “We suspected something was going on and I am fairly certain my father is involved as well.”

“Mr Merlyn,” she started but Tommy interrupted her to call her by his first name as well and she corrected: “Thomas, I don’t know more than this but I thought you should know about it. Walter Steele also found the Gambit in a storage house but before he could secure the boat or find out anything about it, he was taken and the Gambit was moved.”

“Wait, that ship sank somewhere in the Pacific. How would they-“ Oliver asked but Tommy’s face was serious: “Because they drowned it. Probably because Robert had changed his mind. Olli, think about it. We were last minute additions of going out there. You know how much I hate the yacht and I wouldn’t have come with you if it weren’t for that thing.”

“I know. So we think they brought the Gambit back because they’re hiding something,” Oliver nodded and turned to Felicity who eyed them with big, smart eyes and she nodded, knowing what Oliver wanted to ask her before he could.

“I’ll find out everything I can about this. If they tried to kill you, I will find the ship and the proof,” she said sincere: “I found the ship once, I’ll find it again if there is a digital trail.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said sincerely and Tommy nodded at her as well as Oliver that they could trust her now.

“Please be very careful and don’t ever hesitate to call if you have the slightest suspicion your life is in danger,” Tommy said: “We have bodyguards that will also protect you if we tell them to.”

Surprised, Felicity rambled on: “Thank you though I will cover my hacking with several rerouted ip addresses and lead them back to their own offices if I have to.”

~*~

“I think it is time you visit your mother for more information,” Tommy said and Diggle nodded at them. He did drive her around after all and had enough information now to ask her what she knew.

“We need to make this airtight,” Oliver said: “I think Tommy, you should be with Malcolm when the attack happens and gets reported so that you aren’t suspected.”

“What about you?” Diggle asked.

“You will be my alibi. We were someplace you can make up,” Oliver said quickly: “I need to not be available right away when I get the call that my mother was attacked. Its best if you, Dig, answer the phone and report me in the shower or massage or whatever.”

“Good idea,” Tommy agreed: “When will you hit her?”

“Tonight when she’s in a business meeting,” Oliver said simply.

The preparations were done quickly and Oliver was jumping through the window with ease. What he hadn’t counted on was the fact that she used himself and Thea as a means to bargain. She also mentioned Walter and Tommy so that was a sore point. 

Being shot wasn’t on his list and he hated himself for not being more careful but then again his parents had always hated guns and had always done everything to not have guns around. Guess times changed.

Making his way down into the garage and hoping on Felicity was a decision made on the fly and Tommy’s worried thoughts came through the bond. There was nothing his Guide could do right now without giving them away to Malcolm and somehow both Tommy and Oliver had the feeling that that was without a doubt the last thing they should be doing.

Startling Felicity wasn’t easy given that she was rather a kind person but Oliver really didn’t have another choice in the matter.

“Oliver?” she asked surprised upon seeing him in the green outfit: “Oh my god, you’ve been shot!”

He quickly told her where to drive to and also that she had already access. Oliver had simply taken her handprint scan from the building access and she was keyed now to be in the club and cave as well.

Barely registering Diggle and Felicity carrying him in was worrying him but he was already focusing on the spirit plane, meditating to try to be distant from the pain he was feeling. Trying to get away from zoning completely even if he already knew Tommy was on his way over while Malcolm had claimed to have to leave as well.

Fading in and out, Oliver barely felt Tommy’s arrival and Felicity’s look around the cave but he felt Tommy’s hand in his and relaxed by some degree. The bullet wound wasn’t too serious, hopefully.

“The blood came in handy?” Tommy asked Diggle while Felicity gaped at him.

“Yes,” Dig answered: “You were right suggesting that we all should get our own blood for when the time is tight.”

“And we’re very lucky that both Oliver and I are O negative. That is rare in itself,” Tommy nodded and checked over the wound: “I hope he separated himself from the pain.”

“Wait, how can he separate himself from the pain?” Felicity asked surprised.

Tommy grimaced and shook his head slightly. He briefly concentrated and a hawk was suddenly materializing and flying around the narrow space before landing next to Oliver and settling on Oliver’s arm. Tommy then stepped away from the makeshift bed and turned to Felicity: “I hope I can trust you with this.”

“You can,” she agreed: “But I don’t agree with the fact that you killed people.”

“Oliver and I were on an island and had to do much more than that,” Tommy said quietly and on his leg a husky appeared that touched Tommy. Tommy smiled tightly: “Felicity, Oliver is a Sentinel. A protector and a fighter and a killer. I am his Guide, just as deadly in fighting for the good and protecting innocent people. We may not have all the answers yet but we’re trying.”

“And killing is okay?” Felicity asked.

“No, killing is never okay,” Tommy said: “Sometimes you have to. I don’t like it but I can see inside people and what are no people anymore.”

Felicity sighed and turned towards the computers: “I’ll upgrade your systems and help you find Walter since I think that is where you’re headed but once you have him, I’m out of here. I don’t want to be part in this.”

“I understand,” Tommy said: “Thank you.”

Tommy went back to sitting with Oliver then, ignoring what Felicity and Diggle were talking about since he returned to the spiritual plane in meditation to guide Oliver back to consciousness.

~*~

When Tommy returned to Malcolm’s place, it was as if his father had completely changed towards him since leaving for Moira or wherever he had been to. The change was so strong in the mental aspect that Tommy had to shore up his shields.

“I want you to take on some work before I disown you.”

“Father of the year,” Tommy said: “Dead son returns from the dead, father disowns him because he hasn’t been able to get a degree on said deserted island.”

Malcolm’s face scrunched up and he turned to Malcolm: “Its my money and you never worked a dime for it.”

“And you closed Mom’s clinic in the glades. The trust funds were set for years. It looks as if we’re running out on money.” Tommy replied and knew he didn’t need much money to live. It was as if opening his night club with Oliver and all the work had already done was not accounting for anything.

Malcolm’s rage was pressing on Tommy’s shields and the younger man nearly winced. It was showing that Malcolm was hiding a lot from him then. He knew the money wasn’t important. Oliver could supply some.

Slipping up in front of Tommy was surprising. Malcolm had a big plan and was doing a lot to keep Moira in control. Something he would have to look in to further.

“This is over, Thomas. You won’t get any money and can return all your cars and credit cards bought with my money.” Malcolm said and stalked away.

Tommy needed to have a chat with Laurel.

~*~

Getting back on his feet, Oliver headed back to the Queen’s house. He knew they had tried to contact him the night before and it was rather suspicious that he hadn’t been reached. That Detective Lance was there wasn’t helpful either.

“Where were you!?” Thea called him on it right away: “I’ve been trying to call you all night!”

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said: “I was taking some personal time and turned my phone off.” He focused on his mother: “Are you hurt? Are you all right?”

Moira nodded.

Lance’ suspicious glance wasn’t lost on Oliver and his shoulder hurt like a bitch.

“Well, Mom was attacked!” she accused again but Moira held her back.

“I’m sorry,” Oliver said quickly: “Have you found the guy?”

“The vigilante was shot and we have a blood sample,” Quentin said with a nod.

“That’s good, right? You have him then?”

Quentin’s grimace told Oliver that Felicity’s hack had been successful and the sample had been destroyed.

“No, we don’t.” Quentin replied and headed off. Thea still glared at Oliver while Moira looked as if she was still in shock.

Thea waited for her mother to be out of earshot when she turned to him: “Can’t you find out about this? Use your Sentinel senses or something.”

“I can’t find a trace if people stepped all over it,” Oliver said quickly: “Did you try calling Tommy when I didn’t answer?”

“No why would I-“ she trailed off: “He’s my brother and has a constant link mentally to you and will always find you.” She realized: “Why did you say you needed personal time?”

“Because I did,” Oliver said: “I tried to buy something.”

Thea frowned but Oliver stopped her before she could ask: “It’s about Tommy and sadly he’s a mind reader if he wants to and you could give it away.”

His little sister accepted that but Oliver knew he would have to tell her soon.

~*~

Inviting Laurel to dinner on his last cash was easily decided. She earned a well treated dinner even if it was business.

“What can I do for you, Tommy?” she asked, obvious to Tommy’s struggle.

“My father said he’d disown me and I wanted to know what legal grounds he has. My mother passed me on my trust fund and I brought you all the paperwork to look over if you’re willing?”

Laurel looked surprised: “After closing the clinics in the Glades you seem to have a hard time dealing with him.”

“I do. I mean, we haven’t gotten along since forever but since we returned from the island, it’s been four months. Oliver and I are working hard on getting the club running and he thinks we returned form an island with a medical degree or business degree.”

Laurel frowned and took the paperwork: “I’ll check what legal grounds you have in regard to your mother’s inheritance.”

“Thank you,” Tommy said and they had a nice dinner.

~*~

Laurel’s work on Tommy’s paperwork wasn’t lost on Thea who was working with her due to the vertigo - incident where she had been drugged and driven her car – so she was surprised by the whole paperwork.

“I think I found a loophole,” Laurel said and they were walking the streets together: “Tommy is not disowned by Malcolm. It’s not possible.”

Thea was about to ask what exactly when her purse was snatched and the guy ran away. Thea stared after the kid while Laurel ran after him, startling Thea out of the frozen state and together they cornered him. Or at least thought they did.

Something was special about that man and Thea found his blue eyes fascinating but the guy ran off.

Tracking him down would take time. Laurel agreed on them looking into it and Thea found the connection and who he was rather soon.

Roy Harper. A guy from the Glades. Getting him into custody was easy but Roy was tough and had been arrested before. Nonetheless, something in the other guy was calling to Thea to investigate this matter.

~*~

“Thea has changed,” Tommy said as a way of greeting Oliver and the Sentinel turned away from his training to focus on his Guide.

“I thought I felt something but I’m not quite sure. My empathy isn’t strong enough,” Oliver said and focused back on Felicity who was training with Diggle while Oliver was working on the puppet in front of him.

Tommy picked up some of the sticks and started laying it on Oliver: “She met someone. Laurel and her brought him into the police station.”

“What?”

“Yep, and once there, Laurel met Detective McKenna Hall,” Tommy said quickly.

“What is so special about the Detective?” Felicity asked from the side and promptly was thrown onto the matt by Diggle.

Tommy hid a chuckle and never lost his focus on Oliver: “She is interested in dating Laurel.”

“Oh my god, really?” Felicity asked: “With Detective Lance around?”

“Yep,” Tommy replied, popping the p and grinned: “And Laurel is interested in her.”

“I didn’t even know she was interested in women,” Oliver said quickly but shrugged it off: “At least McKenna is decent.”

“That is true but it might be strange for us when or if Laurel gets wind of what we do at night.”

“What, besides having hot sex?” Felicity babbled and promptly blushed and tried to talk over it, making it work: “Oh I mean the nightly activities that you get up to, with, you know the extra hard work and –“ she stopped: “Oh god I’m not making this any better.”

~*~

Oliver had snuck away successfully. This was harder than it looked, considering that he was capable of some sneaking and climbing.

Shielding himself from Tommy was harder than he thought but Tommy was busy with getting the bar set up for their club so he likely wouldn’t notice Oliver leaving him for a while.

Entering the jewelry store, Oliver assessed the place quickly and walked over to a seller. The man looked up at him but didn’t seem to recognize who he was which was what Oliver had counted on. He didn’t want the overpriced top of the end stuff. Simple, nice and elegant was also purchasable for a lot less money.

“What can I help you with, Sir?” the man asked kindly and Oliver was glad he wore simple jeans, booths and his leather jacket.

“I’d like to buy a ring,” Oliver said simply and shrugged. He was already standing over the display of the plainer bands.

“The occasion is for a proposal?” the man guessed while Oliver nodded: “Yes it is.”

He knew that after being together five years on an island and surviving hell and being bonded, nothing would separate them and making it airtight and official was the next step. He really hoped to surprise Tommy with this and that they would get together soon.

“Do you know the ring size?” the man asked and Oliver nodded, giving the man the size.

“Have you got a price limit?” the man asked next and Oliver shook his head: “That is not so important,” he replied: “It has to be the right one.”

“Of course,” the man agreed with a smile: “A diamond or plain?”

“I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate a diamond,” Oliver said honestly: “Plain is more our thing.”

The man looked up suddenly when Oliver mentioned the boyfriend and said right away: “Then we should move to the other display case where I have more choices of bands that don’t include the typical diamond engagement ring.”

Oliver was glad that the man simply shrugged it off but then again they apparently had changed the law in the last five years and had marriage equality which was nice. Following the man to the next showcase of displayed rings, one plain white gold ring caught his eye right away. It was as if the design, the small patterns, were a mixture of Chinese letters but upon closer inspection they were gone.

The door behind Oliver opened suddenly and in came no other than John bloody Constantine: “Hey there mate,” he greeted with his very British accent: “Didn’t know you chose this bloody day to ask your man.”

“John,” Oliver greeted and reached out for a hug: “What brings you to the City?”

“Ah mate, you know the pathways of the angels. Never know where one might be next,” John said and indicated the pair of rings that Oliver had drawn in right away: “Those are a good match.”

The man behind the counter looked at John with surprise: “You are John Constantine.”

“That I am, mate.” He drew out his business card: “You know why I’m here?”

“Yes, thank you for coming so quickly. Now, I would like to help my customer here first.”

“Good idea,” John said: “My friend Oliver here needs the special kind of protection those two rings provide. I know you would have swapped them for normal rings if Oliver would not mention the pattern he saw.”

“What is so special about those?”

“Ah, mate, those are engulfed in protective magic. They also strengthen a pair bond of Sentinel and Guide, much like you and your man have.” John explained: “He’ll take those.”

Oliver nodded because yes he would be taking them: “That I am.”

“We haven’t discussed the price yet,” the man said but Oliver simply handed him his credit card that was gold and had the nice Queen name on top. The man stared at him but Oliver stared him down: “Not a word to anyone.”

“No, of course not, Mr Queen,” the man said and rung him up: “To customize your rings, I will take two days.”

“Not a problem,” Oliver said and looked at John: “No fancy business with those.”

“Nah mate. I won’t. Those tattoos and the natural protection those rings will have will be more than enough for all the things you ever encounter in your life. If not, the angels have a way of telling me where the bloody heck I’m supposed to go.”

Oliver handed one of his brand new business cards over to the goldsmith and magician while waving at John. John nodded and waved him off.

~*~

Somehow, Oliver had missed Laurel and and McKenna going out for the first time. He only got told when he came home from the latest incident involving a hitman that was laying bombs around people’s necks.

Oliver wanted everyone on the team there while the diamonds were on display. The whole thing was rather convenient for a place and easily explained why Tommy, Felicity and Diggle were there. Oliver had seen Moira frown at the fact that Tommy was there. Apparently the money thing had made rounds but Oliver wouldn’t accept any ill speaking of her for the fact that Tommy, a man working his ass off now to get the club running, was downsized due to the money he had on his accounts.

“I felt you running into Constantine today,” Tommy commented in a rather quiet moment and Oliver nodded: “I was looking into some decorations for the club when that guy showed up. Rather interesting coincidence but when that guy is around, things happen.”

Tommy nodded and together they focused back on the job. 

It so happened that Felicity ended up with a bomb around her neck.

Oliver hated this but Tommy was soothing him: “Stay calm, Ollie. Stay with her you’re best at electronics and I’m your best shot getting that guy controlled not to trigger it.”

Oliver didn’t have to think twice before agreeing and focusing on Felicity while Tommy was running away, com link connected: “Felicity, can you tell me where he is?”

“Yes, I can,” she replied while typing on her tablet. Oliver and Diggle were looking at the bomb and Oliver was fairly certain he would be able to disable it but also fairly sure that time was running out.

Not knowing what to do, Oliver focused on Tommy who had cornered the other man and Oliver got the idea to sever the guy’s muscles so he couldn’t press the button. Tommy picked up on that idea and he quickly did what Oliver suggested. The button pressed, the guy tried to disable him but Tommy was quicker having read the man’s thoughts.

Clicking the button to free Felicity felt really good and Tommy left the diamonds with the knocked down body for the police to find.

~*~

Having Felicity on the team helped Oliver and Tommy a great deal. They had tighter security protocols in place and overall it was nowhere near Oliver’s range of technology. She simply was better and smarter in the programming department.

The research done on the buildings, security and their list was also a lot better though Felicity repeatedly told them she would stay only until they had Walter back.

She did find the Gambit and also the diagnostic tools and reports that had been done. The proof that the Gambit had been sabotaged was there, plain as day.

The only thing missing was who had ordered the hit.

~*~

Oliver snuck away a few days before Tommy’s birthday again while Tommy was trying to manage the small party they would be holding at their apartment.

Thea would be bringing her new not-quite-friend, Laurel wanted to bring McKenna, Felicity wanted to come along Diggle and more weren’t invited in the small circle.

“Ah, Mr Queen,” the jewelry seller greeted him and nodded at another seller to take over the current customers still focused on the displays. He quickly vanished in the back and returned with a package that held two boxes.

Oliver took them, flipped them over and nodded in approval. The designs he had seen before were there: “What can you tell me about the magic?” he asked quietly not to alert the others.

“John Constantine was very insistent on charming them himself before he left,” the man said: “He used my charms design of a stable bond. Whoever wears those rings is protected of mind control magic or substances. A special bond, such as between a Guide and their Sentinel will be stronger and easier to handle. Furthermore, Constantine added some luck charms that will enhance your natural abilities and healing. It is rather complex for simple rings and I do wonder why you would need those.”

“Probably not to get stuck on an island again?” Oliver asked rhetorically and the man laughed softly.

“Good luck,” the man said and gave him a receipt but Oliver knew it was unnecessary to have that.

~*~

An argument with Felicity went rather bad right before they were supposed to leave for the night party and Oliver sighed, frowning at the woman he had added to the team.

Felicity had stopped them from going after the guy and nearly making the man miss his mark of returning the money.

It was Tommy who was more pissed at Felicity this time because the sense of duty was deeply engrained in their sense of protection.

Leaving for the party with Felicity and Diggle was rather strange but they arrived at Oliver and Tommy’s apartment right in time.

Tommy was smiling at Oliver, kissing him sensually and smiling: “Laurel and McKenna are not here yet but Thea and her new boyfriend Roy are.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Thea added from the sideline: “I just thought bringing a friend was okay, given that I would otherwise be the odd one out.”

Oliver laughed while Tommy shook his head and mentally sent Oliver a message: //That Roy is Thea’s Guide. They both will come online if they are in danger.//

Surprised, Oliver assessed Roy with a new sense and fresh mind.

They had a special evening, ate dinner and enjoyed the company until the doorbell rang again and Tommy tensed. Oliver expanded his sense and winced. Malcolm was right outside the door.

Oliver looked at Tommy but Tommy shook his head: “I’m good. You can listen in.” he said quietly enough that only Oliver could hear it.

Walking outside, Tommy barely saw the small package Malcolm had and ignored it in his hands. Tommy crossed his arms in front of his chest, a move Malcolm saw and frowned at.

“I tried getting in touch with you.”

“What are you doing here, Dad?”

“Happy birthday,” Malcolm said and held out the small present in his hands. 

Tommy shook his head: “We were about to unwrap my presents.”

“I can’t stay.” 

“Convenient because you weren’t invited,” Tommy replied.

“I’m being honored by the Starling City Municipal Group. They’re bestowing me with their annual Humanitarian Award.” Malcolm said.

“What, they ran out of actual humans to give it to?” Tommy replied and could feel Oliver trying to hold back a choked laugh.

“I would like you to be there, if you could.” 

Tommy barely considered this: “I’m hundred percent certain that I’ll be busy.” He turned to leave but Malcolm’s hand on his arm was keeping him from it.

Malcolm took the last card: “You might not believe this, but all I ever wanted for you was happiness.” Tommy’s eye roll wasn’t lost and Malcolm continued: “If it will allay this tension between us, I’ll turn the switch back on.”

“Save your money, Dad, I don’t need it anymore,” Tommy replied and turned again to leave. 

“I’d still like you to come to this event,” Malcolm said and pressed the invite card into his hand: “It would mean a lot to me.” He turned to leave then but Tommy wasn’t letting him off that easily.

“You know what Dad?” Tommy asked, stepping a few steps towards his father: “Sometimes the people that you want the most aren’t. You taught me that,” he pressed the card to Malcolm’s chest: “You taught me that.”

He turned to leave, because no matter what, his father was his father and turning away was tough. Nonetheless, he had his friends there that came to him without asking him for anything. Yes, it would look rather strange if Tommy didn’t show up to his father’s nomination but maybe that showed those people something. The lost and just returned son stayed away from him. Hmm, one might think.

Closing the door behind himself, Tommy looked at the small package in his hands and quickly opened it. A storm lighter. Pricy but pointless, given that he knew how to light a fire after five years on an island.

“Tommy?” Thea asked him and she obviously had listened in because she frowned at him.

“Sorry, Thea. He’s an asshole. He closed Mom’s clinic in the Glades and they want to fucking give him the humanitarian award. I’m laughing.”

Thea nodded and dragged him back over to the couch where the others had fallen silent but were smiling at him. They were getting some snacks next and Oliver brought out a cake: “I tried baking, so I’m not quite sure how it turned out to be.”

“You cooked us excellent doves and fish,” Tommy countered: “This can’t be worse than unseasoned meat.”

The confidence was amazing and Oliver placed the cake and candles in front of him. Tommy had told Oliver once on the island that the last time he had a self-made cake from a friend or family was before his mother had died and the one time Moira had tried and spectacularly failed to make cupcakes.

Cutting each a piece, Tommy turned to Oliver with a smile: “Thank you,” the mood had lightened again. He took a bite and his eyes widened in approval: “This is good!”

McKenna was still frowning at them every now and then but she seemed to have been told a few lines to know what was going on. She dutifully took a piece of cake and watched from the sidelines.

Oliver had originally planned on asking Tommy to marry him right here and there but McKenna was an unknown factor right now and didn’t know about them if Laurel hadn’t told the other woman.

They were celebrating for a while and first Laurel and McKenna left before Roy made his way home while Thea would be staying the night. 

In the quiet, private circle of friends, Oliver was much more confident in asking Tommy but he also wanted to make sure that it wasn’t still Tommy’s birthday.

Oliver was already sitting on the floor, in front of Tommy and the armchair while Thea was on the rug in front of the fireplace. Felicity and Diggle were seated on the couch. Oliver then turned to focus on Tommy: “You know, surviving that island with the torture and the odds against us, it meant so much to me that I wasn’t alone, that I had you with me there to keep me focused and not let me go mad. I was so happy to know you’re my Guide and that we fit, that we always fit. Coming back from the island, being back here just made me sure of a few things and Tommy, I want you with me even if that is a given due to the bond.”

Thea was sitting up straighter in the background while Felicity had reached for Diggle’s hand and was gripping it tightly. They probably knew where this was going as was Tommy because the other man had sat up straight and was looking at Oliver with surprise. Flipping the quickly produced ring cases from underneath the couch, Oliver presented the ring.

“Thomas Merlyn, will you marry me?” Oliver didn’t even stumble over the words and appeared to be steady in saying them but Tommy knew exactly how nervous he was. Marrying was another level than just being bonded and posing as best friends that had survived the island. Marriage would make this much more out in the open.

“Of course I will marry you,” Tommy said quickly and reached out to take Oliver’s face in his hands and kiss him deeply. He was wrapping his mental shields more tightly around Oliver to emphasize how much he wanted this.

The soft clapping of Felicity, Diggle and Thea was making them draw back and Oliver took the ring, slipping it on Tommy’s finger easily. It fit perfectly and Tommy frowned: “Something is special about those.”

“Ah, did you forget that I met Constantine?” Oliver asked and that was all the explanation Tommy needed to understand that those rings were special. 

Tommy looked at the plain band and nodded: “Did you get one for you?”

“I did,” Oliver nodded. He held the box out for Tommy and his Guide took the ring, slipping it onto the Sentinel’s finger just as easily. Oliver immediately knew what Tommy had felt. The soft rush of magic alongside a stronger feel of their bond.

Meeting for another kiss, Tommy and Oliver were this time interrupted by Thea who cleared her throat noisily: “Err, as much as I both love you and wish you all the luck in the world, there is something wrong about seeing my brothers making out, you now?”

Startled with a laugh, both brothers drew back, smiling at each other before Oliver and Tommy reached out to take Thea into a hug. 

Felicity was breaking the silence next: “Yes, all the best and oh my god this was amazing. I have never been with someone who got engaged to witness it and that is beautiful. But wait what did you mean brothers?”

Diggle nodded at Felicity: “What she said. All the best to you and I hope I’ll get an invite to that wedding.”

Thea drew back and bit her lip: “I screwed up, didn’t I?”

“No, Speedy, you didn’t,” Tommy said and smiled at her: “We haven’t told anyone as promised, that’s all.”

“Felicity, Dig, Thea is genetically Malcolm Merlyn’s and Moira’s daughter. That makes her our sister. Which really is weird,” Oliver frowned at it.

“No, it makes perfect sense,” Felicity said quickly: “It explains why you’re so close and why Thea looks like Tommy sometimes or at least reminds me of him.”

Diggle looked surprised: “Does Mr Merlyn or Ms Queen know that you know?”

“Neither I guess,” Tommy said: “He would have mentioned it if he knew I knew and whenever Thea’s name drops he doesn’t react to her at all.”

“Do we have some champagne?” Felicity asked: “We need champagne for this event.”

Laughing, Tommy got up to help her getting a bottle and glasses. Even Thea got a glass.

~*~

The next day found them in the works for encrypting a phone. They needed to get the information quickly but all it did was give them a location for a Chinese restaurant.

“Care to go out for dinner tonight?” Oliver asked with a smile.

“Can’t wait,” Tommy replied easily and they went off to said restaurant.

Ordering a fried fish that was way bigger than they could eat was making them both laugh slightly.

“What will you do about your Dad?” Oliver asked carefully and both barely started picking on the fish. They still hadn’t much of an appetite.

Tommy sighed: “I don’t know. I will sue him for the money Mom left me for sure. Other than that, I know he hides something and until I know what it is, I may have to play nice even if I really don’t want to.”

“I bet,” Oliver nodded: “Leaving you for two years and returning cold and distant basically ruined any chance he had, huh?”

“Even if your Dad had some wrongdoings, telling us about it was his way of making up for it. Your Dad was like my Dad even if that makes it sound weird again since we’re engaged and all that, but he took me to the first baseball game, took us fishing and took us to our first R-rated movie. That is a dad.”

Oliver nodded: “Yeah, I know. And I really don’t want Thea around him, ever.”

“Word,” Tommy said and chuckled: “There he comes,” he announced and Oliver focused his senses on the Chinese Triad guy: “You or me?”

“You speak better Chinese and you live for those kind of moments,” Tommy replied, smiling at Oliver.

Oliver stood then while Tommy finished picking on the fish and drank the remaining of his tea. Oliver quickly entered the back, hit the light and used his Sentinel skills to navigate the room, attacking the guy and speaking to him to get the information. The guy talked and Oliver returned, quickly sitting back down when the man came storming out and walked right past them.

Tommy barely kept the laughter in while Oliver signaled that he wanted the check please.

~*~

Felicity had the phone encrypted not much later and Oliver called Lance to let him know shortly what the target was.

Malcolm Merlyn. 

Fun-fucking-tastic. Tommy had taken his father up on the offer to go in to make amends and to keep a closer eye on what the other man was up to. This was obviously the wrong path to go down to because Tommy was there, rather helpless. 

Firing off a quick text to Tommy was out of the question so Oliver had to take a deep breath and try the mental talk they had. Surprisingly, the ring on his finger was enhancing his gift rather nicely and it was barely any effort now. He needed to thank John Constantine the next time he saw the man.

//Tommy, attack on your father. Stay close and try to find out as much as you can about him.//

//I will. Stay safe. If the Triad is involved, Albino-Haired will be there.//

//I know. You stay safe and away from bullets.//

The thing was, it didn’t quite work that way. Tommy was dragged upstairs into the secure room and had to stay calm and not hint that he knew how to disarm two men with guns pointing at him. Oliver could feel him struggle but also knew that the Kevlar Tommy was wearing would protect him.

Fighting the Chinese woman again was just taking time and damn McKenna for dropping in when he least expected her. He barely made it out of the window and up to where Tommy and his father surely were.

Oliver could smell the curare from across the room: “Deadshot,” he told Tommy who was kneeling next to his father on the ground.

“I figured,” Tommy said: “Ollie, he is skilled in disarming those men.”

“What?” Oliver asked in surprised: “Fuck, Tommy…what?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” Tommy replied and looked at the man on his feet: “If we leave him to die, the plan he has set in motion might still be executed without we ever knowing what will happen.”

Oliver looked at Tommy, touching his Guide to give him support: “Whatever you decide, I’m with you one hundred percent.”

Tommy sighed: “Knowing that there is only one place he could have learned fighting like that and given that I know for certain he was somewhere in China, the League of Assassins always aims for catastrophic results.”

Oliver just nodded, waiting on Tommy to figure out what to do.

“We need to let him live,” Tommy sighed: “I don’t think we have another option in figuring out who the hell is behind this. Whatever this even is.”

Oliver nodded and hurried to get the first aid kit, quickly helping with Tommy to get a blood transfusion started. They both knew time was crucial and without the right medicine, Malcolm would die.

“Go, Ollie, before the police comes back,” Tommy said, quickly kissing Oliver and sending him off pretty much in time for Malcolm to wake up. At least Tommy knew that Oliver was smart enough to listen to the heartbeat to know when someone was waking up.

That Malcolm would confess to Nanda Parbat in the hospital, that was just dumb luck and confirming the suspicions they had. It made their suspicion that Malcolm was the Black Archer more certain.

~*~

it was a few days after the birthday and engagement that Laurel stopped by for a visit in the evening: “Hey, I wanted to drop by and let you know what I found out about the legal papers.”

“Oh, good, come on in and take a seat. Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, no I’m good,” Laurel waved Tommy off but Oliver went to get some glasses and water anyways.

Settling down in the couch next to Tommy, Oliver focused on Laurel in the seat: “Any good news?”

“Depends,” she said: “Rebecca Merlyn left Tommy the trust found and quite a sum of money that Malcolm couldn’t touch due to it being bound to Tommy’s age. Given that you were presumed dead; the whole money went back to the original account that belonged to Rebecca. Only that account didn’t exist anymore either and was wired back to Malcolm. So rightfully, the money belongs to Malcolm now.”

“So there is no way to get it back?” Tommy asked resigned.

“Oh, there is. You see, usually, a person gets assigned dead after seven years. In this case, Malcolm had insisted that you were dead after two years. The courts had taken that long or else he would have assigned you dead the minute he could.” Laurel explained: “But it gets better.”

Oliver frowned: “As if that can get any worse.”

“Malcolm used the money to close the clinic in the Glades. It was in Rebecca’s will that the clinic was run for as long as twenty years after her death. The thing is, it was connected to the trust that belonged to Tommy. Since Tommy wasn’t around –“

“There was no legal standpoint in upholding the clinic,” Tommy concluded: “Damn, he took all the money and Mom’s last will.”

“We can fight this easily. But another condition on the contract for the personal trust found Rebecca left you was that you had to be married before getting any money. Also, your father had a trust found for you that he took back after you were dead. Legally, he doesn’t have any right to touch those funds now that you’re an adult and back from the dead.”

“So basically I would have two trust funds and Mom’s money to support the clinic,” Tommy concluded: “What are the figures?”

Laurel shrugged: “Those would be about a billion.”

Tommy nodded and sat back to lean against the back: “What about this marriage deal?”

“Before we would even sue the hell out of them, you would have to be married for that one trust or else we couldn’t take any claim,” Laurel said.

Oliver piped up then: “How long would it take for you to get the paperwork for a marriage through?”

She looked suspicious for a second but answered right away: “Twenty-four hours.”

Oliver turned to Tommy: “Hey, Tommy, you okay with only having been engaged for a handful of days before getting married?” Oliver took Tommy’s hand with the ring in his and pressed a kiss to it.

Laurel’s surprised gasp wasn’t lost on them: “When did you get engaged?”

“After my birthday. You had left already,” Tommy said: “Oliver didn’t want Roy and McKenna to know about is yet since we don’t know them that long and us marrying is still a sore point in our parent’s view.”

“Right,” she said and looked at them: “Take Thea and another person to CRNI tomorrow and we’ll sign the paperwork, draw a first set of wills and take the paperwork to the city.”

“We’ll be there,” Oliver said easily. Tommy nodded and turned to Laurel more directly: “Thank you for doing this and you can expect payment and a good donation once I have my money back.”

“I’m counting on it,” Laurel grinned and got up: “Congratulations on your engagement.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said: “Oh and the paperwork for the club?”

“My colleague is handling those since I don’t know my way around those laws. I’ll ask her for an update by the time you come in.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tommy agreed.

~*~

The following day was coming quickly and Oliver told Thea in small terms to dress up nicely while also asking Diggle to accompany Tommy and him to the CRNI and the city office. Diggle frowned briefly but did and since the man always wore a suit, didn’t need much dressing up.

Tommy wore a usual suit, just as Oliver did. They didn’t wear anything fancy for now, given that they didn’t want to draw too much attention. A nice suit was very well within Queen and Merlyn standards especially for seeing lawyers or going to official buildings.

This time was no exception. Thea was wearing a causal good looking dress and Laurel had a nice dress as well.

“Ah, hello,” she greeted the party and waved them over to a table: “Take a seat and we’ll start with the club business first.”

“Sounds good,” Tommy nodded and sat down. Laurel drew the paperwork closer and indicated a few things they had to more or less smooth over. The contracts otherwise were well on their way so that they could open up business soon.

Once that was done, Laurel handed them the paperwork for Tommy’s lawsuit: “I’ll need a signature on the contract that I am –or better, we are – actually representing you.”

Tommy signed and Oliver was also given the paper to sign. Thea was already frowning then: “Why would Oliver sign it as well?”

“We’ll get to that in a moment,” Laurel explained and turned some pages and closed one folder: “Now, your will.”

“Not likely that one of us would survive the death of the other,” Tommy said.

Laurel nodded: “I guess not. It’s unheard of.” She quickly noted something down that if, in the unlikely event that, one of them would survive, the other were to inherit the money.

“If you don’t have children, who should inherit the money?”

“We’ll need to make a list,” Oliver said: “Firstly, if Thea is still alive, it would be her and her kids, should she have any.”

Tommy nodded: “Yes, Thea is the best choice. After that, Felicity, you and Diggle in equal ways.”

Laurel nodded and looked surprised: “I can’t sign this if you want me to inherit a part.”

“Get one of your coworkers then,” Oliver said: “If by some unlucky chance neither is alive, the money is to go to Rebecca Merlyn’s trust in keeping the Clinic going.”

Laurel nodded and passed the paper to a passing coworker who looked at it briefly, at the assembled party and signed it before Oliver and Tommy were signing it as well.

“Why are you drawing up a will together?” Thea asked intrigued. 

“Bonded Sentinel and Guides tend to die together,” Oliver said softly: “Our life-force is tied to another after the bonding.”

“But a simple bonding isn’t recognized by the law,” Thea said.

“Hence we’re here today,” Oliver said and indicated Laurel that was handling another paper form: “to sign our marriage papers.”

“Mom will flip if she realizes you didn’t sign a prenup,” Thea grinned. The chances were slim of Tommy trying to cheat them out of money anyways.

“Don’t care,” Oliver replied and signed his part of the paperwork, then Tommy.

“John, Thea, we’ll need to go over to the city administration to get the paperwork signed and you to act as witnesses.” Laurel said smoothly and guided them out of the CRNI building: “I will file the paperwork to sue the hell out of anyone leaking and printing that knowledge.”

“Sounds good,” Thea smiled and bumped her shoulder in first Oliver’s then Tommy’s shoulder.

Being officially married was taking just a few signatures and they were free to take the paperwork with them.

~*~

They were headed to a small restaurant that evening that according to Thea served the best food. She wasn’t wrong. The thing about having been on an island was that they barely had any idea which restaurants were still in business and good.

Thankfully the Queen name was enough for them to make a private room ready for them. That and Thea’s early call to let them know.

Sitting down as a whole group – Laurel, Thea, Felicity, Diggle – and celebrating their marriage quietly was a nice finish for their day even if barely anyone could know about this yet. Thea was the one to ask Tommy quietly on the side: “Not to ruin the good mood, but why exactly are you keeping your marriage quiet to Mom?”

“Thea, your mother and Malcolm, we think they always knew about us as the potential as a Sentinel and Guide Pair and wanted us not to be together. If they had known about us going on the yacht together, they would have balked. Robert was the only one that didn’t care about whatever politics they were trying to handle and my dad leaving me alone for two years was making those things null and void though.”

“So basically you fear they wouldn’t like it,” she said.

“And the tricky situation that you’re our sister? And the lawsuit I’m trying to start? They don’t understand what we went through on that island. Oh and both Malcolm and Moira have been attacked recently, Walter is missing, you were drugged with Vertigo, we were abducted our first day back, I think giving the press and any possible enemy any leverage would be a disaster.”

“Okay, all valid points, I see. Can I tell Roy though? Its heading somewhere I think,” Thea said: “Even if he is still a criminal and trying to rob everyone because he doesn’t trust anyone.”

“Roy is a great kid as far as I can tell,” Tommy said and indicated his head. Thea nodded that she had understood the reverence and Tommy continued: “You can ask him to come and see us once we have a job for him.”

“I will, thank you,” Thea said with a bright smile and kissed his cheek: “Little Brother.”

Tommy sighed, yes he was younger than Oliver but not that much younger.

“I’d like to make a toast,” Thea said then and stood, raising her glass: “To my awesome big brother who married my awesome second brother and I hope that with this marriage, they will be able to leave the island behind them soon. All the best and luck. You two earned it. To Tommy and Ollie.”

They took a drink.

~*~

As soon as Oliver and Tommy were inside their apartment, they were on each other. They were kissing, touching and in a rush to throw the cloths as long as they were freed of any garment to touch bare, scarred skin.

They were feeling a small difference to their usual encounters. While they loved each other, most of the time when they were going to sleep together, they were still full of adrenaline and that would make it rushed in a way, if not less intimate.

This time around they weren’t in a hurry but much more sensual and in love and taking their time though both knew the difference was the simple knowledge that they were married now.

“Do you feel the rings?” Tommy asked breathlessly between one kiss and the next.

“Yes,” Oliver replied and pushed his husband against the next wall, kissing a trail down his chest while Tommy tried to remove his shirt.

The magic in the rings was now enhancing their bond in a new, more intimate way. The magic was like pushing their minds together closer, weaving them closer on the trust and love than they could have thought possible.

Arriving in the bedroom, Oliver pushed Tommy down on the bed: “I want you to fuck me.”

“Aw sorry love, I called dibs on getting you in me,” Tommy denied: “Later, I promise.”

Oliver didn’t reply verbally but kissed Tommy again. Then was quickly opening the other man up, sliding inside and gasping in surprise when something mentally changed between them. Moving was more sensual and they were connected on a different level. It was as if they were pushed closer mentally than they had been before.

The moment both Oliver and Tommy came, they connected fully and with a surprise, Oliver sought out Tommy’s eyes, watching the other man come to the same realization Oliver had just made.

“We weren’t fully bonded?”

“No, I think the magic enabled us to bond fully,” Oliver said: “I feel you closer to me now, like a second skin.”

//I think talking mentally is more effortlessly now as well// Tommy thought at him and nodded when he realized that in fact, it did.

“Let’s sleep on this and write a thank you letter to Constantine soon,” Oliver said, wrapping Tommy in his arms, sheltering his Guide with his stronger shields as well as Tommy doing the same.

~*~

Opening the Verdant was now hours away. Both Oliver and Tommy were rather busy doing last minute adjustments as well as Roy, who had come in to talk to them and work as a barkeeper now, were rather anxious.

Thea had helped with talking to the DJ, organizing him and a few lightshow equipment that were totally in and weren’t to be missed on their opening night. Both Oliver and Tommy agreed to listen to her.

They also made sure that absolutely no one underage was to get alcohol. If they were found to be serving alcohol to minors, Lance would just be too happy to lock them away.

McKenna and Laurel were showing up early as well, being let in to get a first feel of the club.

Tommy was leaning against the bar, assessing everything in his vicinity and making sure that it all went as promised. Oliver was still talking to the bar keepers and introducing them to Felicity’s ID scanner that would show underage teens quickly. Thea had frowned at that but Oliver had told her no exceptions if she wanted to continue come there.

She had agreed and admitted that alcohol was messing her up these days. Oliver thought this might not be the perfect location but sharing his suspicions was better than not: “Thea, I had that shortly before coming to the Island. I think you are close to coming online as a Sentinel.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No,” Oliver said: “I’m sorry but I don’t think that is it. I think you found your Guide as well.” He looked at Roy: “Tommy and I will be there for you and help you through this when it is time, okay? Please just promise me, promise us that you will come for help.”

Thea must have realized how serious Oliver was about this because she nodded: “I promise.”

Just then the doors opened and the party begun.

~*~

“Laurel?” Tommy asked and stepped into her apartment: “I felt your distress all the way to Oliver’s and my apartment.”

Laurel looked behind her into her apartment and sighed: “My Mother is here. She told me she has a lead on Sara and that always messes me up.”

Tommy wrapped her in a hug: “I’m sorry. Anything I can help you with?”

“We think we saw her on a tourist photo in China,” Laurel said: “But why wouldn’t she come home if it were her?”

Tommy stepped into the apartment and looked at Dinah and greeted her. He had seen the woman a few times in the past as well: “Ms Lance,”

“Mr Merlyn, it’s great to have you home,” she said and the “but my Sara is still missing” wasn’t left out on Tommy’s empathy.

“What lead do you have?” Tommy asked right away.

“A Chinese photo and I came to Laurel in hope she knows someone who could help me figure it all out,” Dinah said and showed Tommy a picture.

“That’s her,” he said quickly: “I don’t want to give you hope since that picture is quite old but it is her.”

“How do you know?” Dinah asked.

“I’m a Guide,” he told her: “It is privileged information so please don’t tell anyone but I feel it.” Tommy took the picture and the google results Dinah had with a Chinese number on it: “Have you called them?”

“They don’t understand English,” Dinah admitted and Tommy quickly flipped open his phone and dialed.

Speaking Chinese came easily and he could feel Laurel’s frown at his language knowledge: “Hello, this is Thomas calling from America about a picture you took quite a while ago. It is of you and what I presume your wife on a beach? Yeah, that’s the one. And where was it taken? My family friend went missing quite a while ago and I believe you caught her in the background.”

Thanking them and hanging up, Tommy smiled: “They’ll send us the picture with the original resolution. From there on we have a face recognition software Felicity can use to hopefully find other pictures of her and we have a location. We’ll definitely need to make more calls.”

“Since when do you speak Chinese?” Laurel asked surprised and Tommy looked at Laurel but he didn’t answer. She would know it was on the not quite deserted island.

Tommy prepared to make quite a few more phone calls and Oliver’s excitement and approval came through their bond. Oliver would also help if they needed help in that department.

~*~

The search for Sara was being interrupted by the problems with the rather ordinary guy taking hostages in the Glades.

Oliver was running halfway across the city, not catching sight of the man and that was seriously pissing him off.

Tommy was helping him by being backup but somehow they just didn’t manage to catch the bad guy and had to watch on camera as the man was killed.

It was a bad day for them. 

Felicity was frowning at her hacking skills and doubting her abilities when Oliver heard it. The soft rumbling on the trail racks. He hadn’t heard that in quite a while but recognized it.

Not knowing what to do for now, Tommy and him went back to work. The club would be opening in a few hours and they had adjustments to do and still figure their way around the staff and who was suited best in which position.

They were talking quietly when Felicity came in and turned on the tv that was over the bar and indicated the late hacked feed.

“Damn it,” Oliver gritted out and Felicity was already on it, hacking and tracking the signal back: “It’s moving again but I think we can narrow it down with the grid of the train tracks.”

Thea came stumbling in, tears across her face: “Oh god no.” she gasped and just then, Roy’s face flashed across the screen and Oliver reached for Tommy to steady himself and ground himself that his Guide was there.

This was the kind of stress that brought out a Sentinel and Guide in one of them.

“I’ll stay with Thea,” Tommy said: “I’ll be more help to her as a Guide than you could be.”

Oliver agreed. Add that Roy would react better to him as a Sentinel and could probably draw him out of a frozen state or zone quite easily.

Heading away and leaving Tommy to sooth Thea, he grabbed his gear: “Felicity?”

“Getting the location now,” she said quickly.

The fight was hard and he hoped that helping Roy free himself was going a long way. He probably needed to clue the other man in since coming online as a Guide would make him feel that Oliver was a Sentinel and there weren’t that many around.

Fighting and shooting the man was rather hard. Roy was looking at him thankful and hurt just as much as the obvious distress he was getting seemed to be too painful.

Getting Roy out of there and onto street level was fairly easy: “Are you going to be okay from here on?” Oliver asked Roy: “The police and ambulance are on their way.”

“I’m good,” he replied and mentally something shifted in the teen. He looked straight at Oliver: “Thea?”

Surprised, Oliver shrugged: “I don’t know. Your distress might have triggered her to come online.”

“So she is my Sentinel? Mr Queen-“

“Don’t worry about it now, Roy. We’ll take care of her for now. You get better and we’re there to help you when you need it.”

“Thank you,” Roy said truthfully: “I get why you’re doing what you’re doing even if others don’t.”

Oliver heard the sirens approaching and quickly got out of there.

Heading back to the club was easy given the noise and the crowd that the new club generated. Thea was downstairs with Felicity and Tommy, one thing Oliver hadn’t counted on but seeing as he had told Roy – or rather Roy had known – keeping Thea in the dark was no longer an option.

Entering noisily, Oliver took off the hood and approached the team that turned to him: “Roy’s fine. He’s online as a Guide and the guy I shot might just have messed him up emotionally for a bit given that he has no mental shields whatsoever but he will be fine. Physically, I couldn’t see much but he’s at the hospital now.”

Thea was on Oliver a second later and hugged him tightly: “Thank you Ollie.”

“Anytime, Thea.” He said and shared a look with Tommy who nodded.

“I want to learn how to fight like you do. I may not quite understand what path you are on but I have the feeling there is something going on and my instincts told me killing that man was the right thing to do even if rationally I frown at it and think that killing never is good.” Thea said.

Tommy shrugged and stepped closer: “You might always feel that way. The Sentinel in you will try to find justice. You will never truly be evil and you may have a slightly different view of justice than the law does but you’re always aiming for the greater good. Your instincts will battle with your rational mind quite a bit, hence having a Guide.”

“But Roy is a thief and had more brushes with the police than I did,” Thea argued.

“Roy never would kill, never would steal from a kid and while he may seem that way, he has his own way and sense of justice. He will Guide you to your personal believes.” Oliver tried to explain: “You will share similar justice sense and a same goal. Tommy and mine is stopping whatever Malcolm Merlyn and our mother have planned.”

“Mom is in this?”

“She is,” Oliver said: “We don’t know how yet but she did shoot me and while we carefully bugged her, she revealed working with Malcolm. Malcolm in turn is working for a League of Assassins. He’s he Black Archer and as such very dangerous. He plans something and we cannot quite figure out the plan just yet.”

“We do know it has something to do with the Glades,” Felicity said: “And she knew about Walter’s abduction even if she doesn’t know where he is, she knew and may even be responsible because Walter found out the Gambit was sabotaged and caused the yacht do go down.”

Thea nearly stumbled on that news but she was a Sentinel now as well. This wouldn’t cripple her any longer: “I want to fight with you.”

~*~

The next step was for Tommy to start working at Malcolm’s place. Officially, he had quit his job with Oliver and was now looking for a more normal, boring position. He wanted, no, he needed to be closer to Malcolm and his plans while also having enough time to train Roy and Thea with Oliver.

It would be a few hectic days and on top of that, Lance was suspecting them of dealing with Vertigo in their club and causing harm. They hadn’t even known the stuff was back on the streets and Thea’s brush with Vertigo had been enough to make them swear off of it of circulating the club.

Lance didn’t accept it that easily and was on their case again. He had a search warrant but luckily enough, the first main room of the cellar was just that, a cellar. It had a whole wall-sized entrance door that you couldn’t possibly detect and only typing in the correct code at the cellar door would also open the hidden space. Furthermore, the door wouldn’t open from the inside when someone was in the outer room without a manual override to not cause an accidental run in.

Dealing with that issue was over soon but they were trying to treat more carefully now. Tommy especially needed to watch his steps and what he was saying around his father but then again this was easy, given their history.

The turnaround came when Laurel once more was in danger and the boy she was taking care of. Tommy was arguing with her about his lawsuit against Malcolm and when they would start the paperwork when they were attacked by the men after the kid.

Logically, Tommy knew he could have protected them himself but then Laurel would have known who he was and that wasn’t a good idea. So staying at the Queen’s house with their security details was the best option next to Merlyn Manor but neither Tommy nor Oliver ever felt quite at ease in that house and they knew the ins and outs of the Queen Villa which would definitely be their advantage.

Therefore, staying the night at Moira’s and Thea’s place it was.

Thea and Oliver were taking turns inspecting the area surrounding the house with their senses, Thea having learned quite a lot in the past few days and she was quite adapting to her senses. It was easy for her even if she wouldn’t fight with Oliver and Tommy for a long time, she was the best in securing the house.

“Oliver,” she called out suddenly, alerting the other man and Oliver knew what was going on when the light switched off suddenly: “Thea, get back in your room and bolt the door.”

He replied across the whole house and quickly walked up to Laurel and Tommy: “Stay in there,” he said and shoved Tommy with Laurel and the boy into a room. Tommy would be the last defense line that would be totally unexpected to any attacker.

Quickly kicking the doorknob off, Oliver went through the house quietly and found out where the man was. He was behind him, just as Oliver had wanted because it was exactly the opposite direction of where Tommy and the kid were hiding.

Taking the man down took longer than anticipated and they now had to spin a lie. Oliver would say his bodyguard had killed the man before falling victim to the bullet in his chest.

Whether that was believable or not was up to debate but when Lance arrived, seeing his daughter unharmed and well as well as Tommy backing Oliver’s story, he left without further comment. All the while Thea and Roy had been hiding out in her room.

~*~

Laurel telling Lance that they were searching for Sara and calling any and all possible people in China was a disaster. The man was close to loosing it and it showed. He was pissed that Oliver and Tommy had been involved in the search as well as Felicity. 

The calling people and explaining what and whom they were looking for eventually made Tommy and Oliver aware of one fact.

Sara was alive but the way she showed up and disappeared usually correlated to assassinations in the area. What exactly that meant was still out in the open but Tommy and Oliver both didn’t have a good feeling about this. 

That’s why almost every lead turned out to be naught.

Until Diggle introduced his ex-wife Lyla. That she knew where Nanda Parbat was, that was just a coincidence. But she had a file on Sara, aka the Canary. Ta-er al-Safar. Oliver and Tommy briefly read through the files and asked Lyla to reach out for her.

Setting that into motion would hopefully show some results.

~*~

The next big step in finding Walter was finally taking shape. Felicity had volunteered to go in to play the tables and hopefully gain some insight but shooting his way out, all Oliver found out was that apparently Walter was dead.

Which wasn’t true because Tommy was still sensing the other man.

Asking Thea to come to the cave was rather urgent and she walked up to him with a smile: “Training session again?”

“No,” Oliver said tightly: “I’ll have to ask you to lie to Mom and I am sorry to do this but I think it is the only way we can find out where Walter is.”

“What?”

“I have a lead that said Walter is dead but Tommy still feels him. A while ago, Mom showed indicators that she knew more than she let on. If we can make her believe that Walter had been killed, she may run to whomever is holding him and demand to see a vital sign.”

“And you want to trail her and bug her to find Walter,” Thea concluded: “Ollie, you’re mad if you’re thinking Mom was behind this.”

“You know she lied to us repeatedly and ever since you’ve come online you have a gut feeling.” Oliver told her: “Trust that.”

“What do you need me to do?” she asked after hesitating a moment.

Oliver ran the plan by her and she agreed. Tommy had already bugged his father’s office in case they were heading there but Thea, Tommy, Roy, Diggle and he were going to be trailing Moira to not lose sight. There was too much at stake here.

Listening in on the open comm, the whole team got to hear about Moira working with Malcolm and Tommy sighed while Thea’s anger was rolling off of her in waves.

Finding out what they needed to, Oliver was just glad that his husband had more interest in flying a helicopter as a hobby than yachting. It came in useful when they would be doing a skydive attack on the building Walter was hidden.

Fighting the dozen men leading up to Walter’s hiding spot wasn’t easy but he managed. He would have loved to have backup but Tommy was flying the helicopter, Thea and Roy weren’t there yet, Felicity just had a rather harsh night before and Diggle was driving their get away car.

Oliver wasn’t even surprised much when he saw Hunter. Hunter had long since been removed from security detail of Tommy since he hadn’t managed to keep Tommy from sneaking away and Malcolm knew that. But having him here was just Oliver’s bad luck.

Getting Walter back was one thing. The man was luckily enough mostly out of it and wouldn’t be able to recognize Oliver at all. Bringing him to the next hospital was the logical solution even if the first doctor who saw him looked rather scared. Oliver quickly instructed him to let the police know Walter Steele had been found.

Realizing who exactly it was that was in front of the doctor, the man called for a team and they brought him in.

Diggle quickly drove him back to their cave and left for a stint with Lyla – and ARGUS – to get Deadshot. Oliver disliked Diggle going after the man like that but he would let it slide given that Tommy and Oliver had been mostly certain that Deadshot had been killed.

~*~

Returning to the hospital with Tommy in tow, the whole family gathered together even if Roy was family, he mostly stayed outside and behind. Oliver would have to change that soon.

“Walter,” Oliver greeted with a nod. After all, Oliver had barely a year with the other man where Walter had spent quite some time in captivity. The other man seemed to realize something because he smiled at Oliver and given that they had been civil, they hadn’t been warmly towards another so this reaction was quite unusual.

“Could you please give us a minute?” Walter asked and indicated Oliver. Moira frowned, Thea looked like she might know what this was about while Oliver was puzzled. Tommy, leaning in the doorway waited for Oliver’s reaction but since barely anyone knew about them being married, he doubted that Walter wanted Tommy there.

Closing the door behind them, Oliver turned to Walter: “You figured it out?”

“Felicity showed up with you so I guess she was with you when I was found. Knowing her computer skills, I think I can imagine what you had been up to,” Walter said: “Thank you for getting me out.”

“You’re welcome,” Oliver said.

“I saw the body count,” Walter admitted: “What happened to you on that island?”

The door opened and Tommy stepped in: “You might want me here for this.”

Looking worried, Walter was about to dismiss Tommy again when Oliver shook his head: “Tommy and I went through hell and thanks to you, Felicity told us about the Gambit. We found out that –“

“Your parents are working together. I kind of came to that conclusion,” Walter admitted.

“Right,” Oliver said and Tommy took over: “We are doing everything we can to bring forward Malcolm’s and Moira’s plan but we also think that Moira is pressured, given that you were kidnapped and held more or less at gunpoint to make her compliant.”

“Again, what happened on that island?”

“Dad made it to the life raft,” Oliver admitted: “He told us about this book he had and that they failed the city but he didn’t clarify. He shot himself in the head before we could get more information.”

“Crap,” the man said and shook his head: “You learned fighting?”

“The island wasn’t deserted rather than littered with psychopaths that found torture to be fun. Oh and gladiator-games, fight club… that kind of things.” Oliver said and tried to make light of the situation.

Walter seemed to not take it as lightly as Oliver thought and probably knew that part of it was true. Tommy touched Oliver on the arm: “Senses?”

“Okay,” Oliver replied automatically: “Hearing expanded to Thea and Roy.”

Walter was surprised but Tommy shook his head: “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t,” the man said: “I had a lot of time on my hands and among one was getting a divorce.” Walter said, shifting in his hotel bed.

“I can’t blame you,” Tommy said: “If I could get a divorce from them, I would, too.”

Walter smiled: “Just don’t marry ever.”

“Oh but I am married,” Tommy waved his hand and his ring finger: “We just didn’t tell anyone.”

Oliver chuckled: “Tommy, you know we cannot get a divorce.”

“And what we’ve been through? Yeah, we’ll never get tired of another.” Tommy said and kissed Oliver: “Besides, my Sentinel is just not to be ignored.”

“You’re a Bonded Pair?” Walter asked in surprise: “Then I really do know the city is in good hands.”

~*~

Taking down and finding out the plan about Malcolm was easier with Thea in the know and Walter pulling strings with other people on the list. Overall, it was a known that it had something to do with the Glades and the train tracks, as seen on the map in the booklet that Oliver had.

Tommy was still working hard to find out more about the attack that would be taking place and was seeping into his father’s mind whenever he could but the mental ability wasn’t like mind-reading exactly so Tommy didn’t get too much.

He found out a laboratory he could hit.

Not much information to get there but Roy had looked at Moira and noticed that she knew more than she let on. Tommy shared a look with Oliver and it was clear that Tommy couldn’t leave Malcolm’s side in fear of missing something crucial, Oliver couldn’t be present because he needed to be a pressure point while Diggle was left to once more take on the suit.

At least now they knew what exactly Moira Queen and Malcolm Merlyn were up to. Destroying the Glades with an earthquake device. 

Tommy’s fury was telltale across the distance and their Bond was heavy with it. Thea herself was shaken up quite badly so that Roy barely managed to keep her balanced. Both Thea and Roy hadn’t fully bonded yet, given that they barely knew one another it was understandable but not helpful in time of crisis. If Oliver had any right in his sister’s personal relationships, he would tell her to fuck the man already.

Separating and working different angles was easy. Tommy may be working closely to Malcolm now, learning the ins and outs of the family company, he was also a spy and a good one at that. Felicity had given him a few tools to plug in at various computers and servers which Tommy had done without hesitation.

He had long since realized that his father’s work wasn’t in the greater good league of every citizen in this city. And that rubbed him the wrong way.

Also on their agenda was Laurel. She was sad ever since she had broken up with McKenna over the Huntress’ attack on her. It wasn’t difficult to see that she was down but the hopes and workings of finding Sara were keeping up her spirits.

That and suing the hell out of Merlyn Global. 

She had handed in the paperwork on Tommy’s behalf and was waiting for the legal department to get back at her. Of course Malcolm would get to know about his but Tommy and Oliver had argued that the working relationship of Tommy with his father wouldn’t equal a good relationship over Tommy’s money and the view on closing his mother’s clinic.

All valid points. Now they had to wait for the other shoe to drop and Laurel fight in court or in a settlement agreement.

“Tommy?” Malcolm asked Tommy and the Guide looked up from the paperwork he was handling. He had gotten the grip of it fairly easy. He opened the bond to Oliver so that Oliver knew what was going on.

“Dad?”

“Why did the legal department just call me down to inform me that Laurel filed a lawsuit for you that goes against me and the money?”

“Because while I may work for you, the money I was given by Mom and you, were rightfully mine. Since I didn’t die and the funds stated that I was the sole owner and had the access, it gave you no right to touch the money. We also got to know that you filed to get the money back barely two years after I went missing which the normal standard would be seven years before one is declared dead. Which leads me to Mom’s trust and will to me for me to let the clinic continue its run.” Tommy explained calmly: “I know that working is an important part and I have to do this but at the same time, I disagree with you on a private matter.”

Malcolm’s face was steady and calm. Too calm for someone who hadn’t been through torture or special training. Tommy could read the mental shields the League of Assassins had taught Malcolm easily enough.

“You will lose this round.”

“Maybe one, but the funds for Mom’s clinic and her private trust that was left for me will undoubtedly be written over to me. Add the interest rate,” Tommy said easily: “Until that matter is closed, we’ll not discuss it for now.”

Malcolm stared at his son in surprise but undoubtedly, it was proud that Tommy was acting like that. Checking his watch, Malcolm hurried away and Tommy frowned. This was way too easy and the anger his father held for him was usually more telltale.

Tommy decided then and there to go visit Oliver. They weren’t getting anywhere with this and it was time to take out the big guns.

~*~

Deciding on attacking Malcolm wasn’t easy. They needed to find out where Malcolm was hiding the machine and they had to kill him if necessary. 

Oliver looked at Tommy in worry but the other man shook his head: “I’ve known for a while now that I have no love lost for him, Oliver.” Tommy took a deep breath: “If he needs to be killed, so be it.”

Surprised but not too surprised, Oliver took his Guide in his arms: “Do you want to attack him? Shall I?”

Tommy hesitated: “I think it should be you.” Tommy said honestly: “If he overpowers you again, he at least will know that he nearly killed you.”

“You’re the ace up our sleeve though he might know you’re in on it. I might get close to him when we need it to kill him.”

“Yes and he won’t know I am just as capable as you are,” Tommy said: “Nor that Diggle here and Roy and Thea are very capable in fighting as well.”

“Thea and Roy need to be across the city,” Oliver said quickly: “We need to spread out as much as possible.”

“Agreed,” Tommy said and turned to activate the call signal for the others to come to the cave. They needed to talk this through.

~*~

Oliver stood once more in front of Merlyn Senior, bowstring pulled back and ready to shoot the arrow. That Malcolm would catch the arrow wasn’t part of the plan and rather a surprised but then again, they had long since suspected that he was the Black Archer and had quite a few skills.

Being attacked by Malcolm wasn’t easy to fight off. Oliver may have youth and agility on him but he did learn fighting on an island – and off of it – but no technique was actually reaching the level of the League of Assassins. Oliver would have to fight hard and hope that the adrenaline response that was enhanced in Sentinels would kick in right on time and help him fight Malcolm.

The plan didn’t quite work that well. Waking up to dangling on chains, Oliver sighed and focused on Malcolm: “So, what now?”

“Sadly enough, I cannot kill the best friend of my son,” Malcolm said: “But I can hinder you of stopping this.”

“You know, destroying the whole city, I don’t think that was Rebecca’s goal, that with opening up a clinic to help people.” Oliver said.

Malcolm’s rage was now penetrating his shields and that with Oliver’s low sense of empathy.

//Are you okay?// Tommy’s thoughts came through the bond and Oliver sighed. It was hard keeping Tommy out and he might need help getting out of the chains, depending on how stupid Malcolm was though.

//I’m good. Your father caught me but it may give us a few information we need.// Oliver replied.

Malcolm was leaving him alone then before he could get any answers but at least they were right about the Glades and the Earthquake Device.

 

~*~

 

Felicity was first to arrive and sat down, attacking the keyboard viciously and with routine. They were trying hard to find the possible locations for the Glade’s device. Knowing that it was an earthquake device helped a long way in making them realize just what exactly they were looking for in the location with tectonic plates underneath the city.

Oliver was headed there now while Tommy was leaving to go to Malcolm and confront him in a drunken demeanor about the plans Malcolm had. Hopefully the man would slip.

Thea’s distress was hard to ignore and Oliver called up Thea: “What’s wrong?”

“Walter handed mom the divorce papers,” Thea said shaken up: “And she has a lot of press people here.”

“Get Roy and hit the streets,” Oliver said: “The device will be activated tonight. Tommy and I will try to stop Merlyn, you and Roy may be needed in the Glades where you can stop the device if we can’t make it.”

Thea hung up then as a way of agreement and Oliver realized that Thea and he would be able to still communicate with another through the distance of the street given their range of hearing.

Tommy was arguing with his father and it was like a background noise for Oliver. The way Malcolm talked that his was what Rebecca wanted was blind rage and grief misguided in one man that was also used by the League of Assassins.

Accusing Malcolm of quite a few things, trying to stop Malcolm from hurting anyone, Tommy reached for the gun that one of the police officers that had come in to arrest Malcolm had dropped and was prepared to shoot his father but maybe not quite yet.

Malcolm having opened the vault where the black outfit was stored was shock enough that Tommy didn’t have to playact anything but at the same time it was a confirmed suspicion.

Being knocked out by Malcolm in a quick move was not planned.

Oliver in the meantime was calling Lance, already rushing to where Tommy had been knocked down. Lance was answering on the first ring and Lance was actually listening this time while Oliver was redirecting him to Felicity. Felicity had – in all the hectic - been found out while Diggle had made the call to get her released and Lance to listen. Oliver had been busy dealing with Thea and Tommy then.

Felicity frowned when Oliver was talking and looked up suddenly: “Would it be smart for a smart man to only have one device? I mean money isn’t the issue.”

The surprise that she may be right was tough: “Let Roy and Thea know to hit the streets and tunnels to find it,” Oliver said: “But seeing the lay lines cross with three underground tracks, it is only logical that they would be on those other two cross points,” Oliver reasoned: “Dig?”

“I’ll go to one, send Roy and Thea to the other,” Diggle said: “Felicity can coordinate with all three of us at once.”

Oliver rushed towards Tommy then. The good part of the city where no doubt Malcolm would be hiding out.

Arriving at the tower where he knew Tommy was, Oliver found his Guide, still knocked out on the floor. Quickly kneeling by the other man, Oliver shook him carefully: “Tommy?”

“Ollie?” Tommy asked in surprise and winced: “Damn that hurt.”

“Do you know where Malcolm went off to?” Oliver asked but Tommy nodded his head: “He’s in the secret vault there. I feel him.”

“You good to fighting him?”

“Yeah, but I’ll hold the gun steady and only fight back if I have to.” Tommy said quickly.

Oliver opened the door to the vault, barely realizing that Felicity was instructing Diggle and Quentin how to disarm the devices while Thea and Roy’s place had been empty of a device and they were back on the streets.

“Dad?” Tommy asked, standing next to Oliver in a rather unprofessional stance for handling a gun but Tommy could play that part.

“I’m here,” he said: “So you are here to fight me? Prepared to die, Oliver?”

No point in holing up who he was, Oliver removed the hood since it could get in the way at times: “Tommy, stay back.”

Oliver attacked then, fighting Malcolm but Malcolm was getting the upper hand quickly and took a run, shoving Tommy aside. Fleeing to the roof, Oliver followed, Tommy following quickly with a spare bow and arrows of his father in his hand.

Standing on top of the roof, Malcolm looked at Tommy and Oliver, standing next to another and Tommy holding a bow and arrow loosely: “Can you even shoot with that?”

“We survived an island, Dad. What do you think?” Tommy asked and rolled his eyes: “That we threw spears? Yes, we did. Bow and arrow? Of course. Knives and stones? Yep,” Tommy replied with sarcasm evident: “I won’t miss.” Tommy promised and quickly shot an arrow, same time Oliver did. 

Tommy’s arrow was dodged while Oliver’s was caught. It exploded since both men were able to learn. Falling back, Malcolm scrambled back to his feet and started to lay in on Oliver with his fighting skills and Tommy dropped the bow in his hand to join in.

The surprise that Tommy was equal in fighting wasn’t lost on Malcolm. The advantage of their Guide and Sentinel gifts were telltale as well. Tommy knew when Malcolm was planning an attack and when he could read the mind a bit, he could react quickly. With Oliver and his bond, that instant reaction that usually gave Tommy the advantage that Oliver’s senses and adrenaline gave him was aiding them now.

Oliver was able to intercept and anticipate nearly every move Malcolm made wile Tommy got it in time. It threw Malcolm for a loop that their different fighting techniques were different in speed and strength to that Malcolm was constantly off balance.

The fight seemed to take long but in reality was only seconds. Tommy slipped by making a wrong move and was caught while Oliver used one of his arrows and struck Malcolm with is as he would a knife.

Tommy was released and Oliver stood in front of Malcolm: “Don’t you dare touch my Guide.”

That was the last trump they could pull to throw Malcolm off their balance. The second Malcolm hesitated, Tommy struck an arrow through the man’s chest. Not to kill him, no. He was a Guide and that was his father. He may not love the man but it was hard for him to kill the man.

“Tommy?” Oliver asked him for a decision. He would let Malcolm live if need be.

“Lian Yu?” Tommy replied.

“Good enough,” Oliver replied and the confused stare of Malcolm Merlyn was laughable.

“We declare him dead,” Oliver said: “No one will miss him after this.”

“I will be able to take over Merlyn Global Group only if he is really dead,” Tommy said: “Sending him to an island won’t be enough.”

“Thea’s right to take over as well, don’t forget that,” Oliver added.

“And you as my husband,” Tommy shrugged: “I know.”

“You’re married? Thea is my daughter?” Malcolm asked from the floor, gasping though his heart was nicked.

“Oh, Thea knows that you tried to kill a lot of people. Her Guide lives in the Glades so I guess she would be right behind me killing you if she weren’t busy dealing with your mess.” Oliver said: “The pain he is in…”

“Mercy. Add that he knows way too much about us and that in itself is dangerous,” Tommy said: “Let me strengthen my shields first. I don’t want to feel anything.”

“You won’t, love,” Oliver replied and waited for Tommy’s nod before he snapped the man’s neck.

~*~

The whole chaos was made by the people running away. Both devices had been disabled by Quentin and Diggle, while the streets were roamed by Thea and Roy but the Glades were big and couldn’t be contained by a single pair, no matter how well their senses were and how good in fighting they were.

Thea’s head whipped around when she heard Laurel’s call for help. She was being attacked by a mugger who tried to get to her and Thea knew she was too far away for her to help.

It came as a surprise when another presence showed up.

The woman was dressed up with blond hair, black leather and a mask. Thea got Roy’s impression of her as well. She was a strong fighter.

“Laurel?” the woman asked, dragging her out of harms way and onto the busier streets, close to where Detective Lance was.

“Who-“ Laurel started but she seemed to recognize it a second later: “Sara?” the woman in black nodded and winced: “I’m sorry that I couldn’t come home sooner. I heard that someone was making calls out to all the places I’ve been to and I knew it wasn’t fair to hide much longer, no matter what I had done.”

“Oh my god, Sara, I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t care what happened and where you have been,” Laurel said and quickly wrapped her sister in another hug.

A call for help close by was interrupting them and Sara was rushing away, fighting in a strong and secure way that Laurel had seen in the vigilante before. 

Quentin was climbing out of a tunnel close by, sighing and looking at the woman fighting across the street before focusing on Laurel: “Are you okay?”

“I am, Dad,” she said: “Dad, look, that is Sara.”

“What?” the shock was written all over Quentin’s face.

“You know Tommy made a few calls, Oliver made a lot of calls, Tommy did some more research, paid some guys of their Merlyn Global Group in China to put people on it and Sara is here now because word got to her that we were looking for her.” Laurel explained quickly: “She went through some stuff apparently.”

“Yeah, she looks like Merlyn and Queen fighting,” Lance said: “But of course you’re their lawyer and I have no proof that its them but it’s obvious.”

Laurel had to agree but was interrupted by a motorbike coming up to them.

Tommy was climbing off behind the hood –guy and Tommy went over to Laurel and Quentin: “Are you all okay?”

“Yes, you?” Laurel asked quickly.

“Merlyn is dead,” Oliver said and didn’t bother hiding the fact that he used his own voice given that Lance had just said he knew. Even if Laurel hadn’t known about it yet.

Sara came over them and looked at Tommy and Oliver: “Huh, looks like you’ve come a long way since we saw each other on Lian Yu.”

~*~

The reunion of Sara, Moira being taken into custody, the dead body of Malcolm, the marriage between Oliver and Tommy, Thea and Roy’s relationship status,… it all came out that day and the cave crew grew in size. 

Quentin Lance was being read in and while he frowned at quite a lot of those things, he understood what Oliver and Tommy had tried and succeeded in preventing. He also could get behind the idea that sometimes you needed someone who worked behind the law to get the law enforced. If anyone had a problem with that, Lance couldn’t help them. It was in his eyes necessary that they were working together and a Sentinel and Guide pair, or rather, two pairs, were securing the city was a good thing, even if the methods were strange. Sentinels and Guides weren’t known for letting people live if they were too corrupt to do anything with, Quentin was working for the police and the few Sentinels in the police force were the same.

Letting it slip to the public that the Hood was a Sentinel, well, that just helped in people seeing the hero in the guy. And Detective Lance had the chance to talk to the Sentinel and try to convince him that killing all the time wasn’t needed. 

Sara came home with a lot of baggage, and a girlfriend that was the new leader of the Assassins, was a whole different story.

Oliver and Tommy were sitting down together with the heads of their respective companies and talking strategies to get the Clinic in the Glades running again and how to help people with their companies. 

The knowledge of the public that they had married had gone over well enough though both Oliver and Tommy didn’t want it in the know, it was inevitable given that the whole Merlyn Global Group had to be signed over to Tommy as the rightful heir and as such the papers of the marriage had shown up and the missing prenup was another reason Oliver had to be present and sign the papers as well.

The lawyers of Queen Consolidated had also signed to firm to Oliver and Tommy given that Moira was a criminal now and Walter had divorced her just before all that went down. And Walter had a prenup even if he was heads of the board.

All in all, it could have gone a lot worse and the rebuilding of infrastructure and help in the Glades was a long way off but together, they would do all they could.

Add that Thea was legally inheriting a part of both the Merlyn and Queen company even if that little information hadn’t made the papers.

It was good to have backup in any form.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed; please leave a kudo or comment if you enjoyed.


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